LOVE  IN  ART 


Art  Lovers*  Scries 


The  Madonna  in  Art 

Christ  in  Art 

Angels  in  Art 

Saints  in  Art 

Heroines  of  the  Bible  in  Art 

Child  Life  in  Art 

Love  in  Art 

Shakespeare  in  Art 

Music  in  Art 

Japanese  Art 

A  History  of  American  Art.    2  vols. 

Beautiful  Women  in  Art.    2  vols. 

J* 

L,  C  PAGE  &  COMPANY 
200  Summer  St.,  Boston,  Mass. 


LOVE    IN    ART 


BY 

MARY    KNIGHT   POTTER 


EUustratrt 


BOSTON 

L.  C.  PAGE    AND    COMPANY 

(INCORPORATED) 
1898 


Copyright,  f8<?8 
Bar  L.  C.  PAGE'  AND  COMPANV 

(INCORPORATED) 


Colmtial 

Electrotyped  and  Printed  by  C.  H.  Simonds  &  Co 


CONTENTS. 


INTRODUCTION yii 

I.    LOVE  IN  GREEK  ART      .        .        .        .15 
II.    BIBLICAL  LOVE  STORIES         ...      29 

III.  VENUS  AND  CUPID  .       .  •     .       .       .48 

IV.  MYTHS  AND  FANCIES      ....      76 
V.     PAINTERS'  LOVES 96 

VI.    THE  GODDESS  OF  LOVE  AND  HER  SON    131 

VII.    MYTHOLOGIC  AND  IDEAL  LOVE  SCENES    156 

VIII.    LOVE  SCENES  IN  LITERATURE       .        .     196 

IX.    WIVES  AND  SWEETHEARTS     .        .        .224 

BIBLIOGRAPHY 251 

INDEX 253 


2051012 


ILLUSTRATIONS. 


FACE 

MRS.  KENYON  Cox.  —  The  Lovers    ...»     Frontispiece 

Venus  of  Melos , 17 

PRAXITELES.  —  Cupid 23 

FRANCIA.  —  Meeting  of  St.  Cecilia  and  Valerian  ...  37 

GUIDO  RENI.  — Rebecca  at  the  Well 45 

BOTTICELLI.  —  Birth  of  Venus 51 

CORREGGIO.  —  Education  of  Cupid 57 

TITIAN.  —  Sated  and  Artless  Love 61 

TITIAN.  —  Venus  and  Cupid 67 

CORREGGIO.  —  Detail  from  Danae 85 

BELUCCI.  —  Cupid  and  Psyche 91 

DA  VINCI.  —  Monna  Lisa 103 

RAPHAEL.  —  The  Fornarina 107 

MICHAEL  ANGELO.  —  Vittoria  Colonna 113 

RUBENS.  —  Rubens's  Wife  and  Children 119 

VAN  DYCK.  —  Maria  Ruthven 123 

REMBRANDT.  —  Rembrandt  and  His  Wife 127 

FRANCESCHINI.  —  Cupid  with  a  Bow 133 

VOLTERANNO.  — Sleeping  Cupid 137 

v 


VI  ILLUSTRATIONS. 

MAP 

CABANEL. —  Birth  of  Venus 145 

WATTEAU. —  Jupiter  and  Antiope 159 

LEIGHTON.— Helen  of  Troy 163 

LEIGHTON.  —  Wedded 167 

MILLAIS, —  Yes! 171 

WATTS.  —  Love  and  Death 175 

THUMAN. —  Springtime  of  Love 185 

HUNT. —  Marguerite 189 

McEwEN.  —  Paris  at  the  Court  of  Menelaus  .    ...  195 

ROSSETTI. — Head  of  the  Blessed  Damozel      ....  201 

MILLAIS.  —  Bride  of  Lammermoor 207 

CABANAI Death  of  Francesca  da  Rimini     .    .    .    .  211 

TISSOT.  —  Meeting  of  Faust  and  Marguerite    ....  215 

ROMNEY.  —  Lady  Hamilton 227 

MILLAIS.  —  The  Huguenot  Lovers 231 

ROSSETTI.  —  Beata  Beatrix 237 

BRUSH.  —  Mother  and  Child 245 


INTRODUCTION. 

"  I  ^HE  love  between  man  and  woman  has 
been  told  in  story  and  poem  since 
long  before  the  days  of  Sappho.  It  forms, 
indeed,  the  subject  of  the  great  bulk  of 
what  we  call  literature.  In  music,  love's 
domain  is  less  extended.  With  the  excep- 
tion of  song  and  the  opera,  most  of  the 
greatest  music  has,  in  its  title  at  least,  no 
hint  of  the  great  heart  history  of  human 
kind.  In  this  respect  the  plastic  arts  are 
more  allied  to  music  than  to  literature. 

The  masterpieces  in  painting  and  sculp- 
ture are  generally  not  labelled  love  stories. 
It  is  possible,  to  be  sure,  to  interpret  some 
of  them  till  a  half  hidden  love  suggestion 


Vlll  INTRODUCTION. 

appears,  made  more  beautiful,  perhaps,  by 
its  very  obscurity.  But  this  is  exactly 
what  poetic  minds  frequently  attempt 
when  listening  to  the  great  sonatas  and 
symphonies.  The  composer  may  have 
meant  something  of  what  the  musical 
psychic  thinks  he  finds;  or  he  may 
never  have  dreamed  of  expressing  any- 
thing except  purely  musical  thoughts, — 
inexpressible  in  words. 

There  is,  indeed,  more  than  fancy  in 
the  claim  that  sound  and  color  has  each 
its  own  language  with  which  it  conveys 
its  message  to  the  initiated,  strengthened, 
rather  than  limited,  when  words  fail  prop- 
erly to  interpret  it.  Perhaps,  too,  it  is 
because  love's  romance  has  been  told 
so  voluminously  in  literature  that  the 
two  other  arts  give  less  time  to  its  por- 
trayal. 

However  this  may  be,  it  is  nevertheless 
true  that  many  beautiful  pictures  and 


INTRODUCTION.  IX 

sculptures  do  tell,  in  no  uncertain  lan- 
guage, the  old,  old  story  which  will 
charm  the  world  so  long  as  there  are 
men  and  women  to  read  it.  To  separate 
and  properly  classify  every  picture  and 
statue  produced  since  the  beginning  of 
the  great  Grecian  period,  touching  in  any 
way  upon  this  subject,  is  practically  im- 
possible. Even  a  summary  of  the  most 
remarkable  works  must,  from  some  points 
of  view,  be  incomplete.  There  is  always 
the  question  how  much  reading  into  a 
picture  is  allowable.  Moreover,  people  do 
not  always  agree  as  to  what  constitutes  a 
love  story. 

In  the  following  chapters  an  effort  has 
been  made  to  reduce  the  work  to  its  sim- 
plest proportions. 

As  Venus  has  been  known  for  ages  as 
the  goddess  of  love,  any  picture  or  statue 
of  her  may  unquestionably  come  within 
its  scope.  Cupid,  her  irresponsible  son, 


X  INTRODUCTION. 

whose  game  is  the  human  heart,  being 
the  cause  of  all  the  heart  troubles  and 
heart  happinesses,  must  also  have  a  place 
here. 

The  illustrations  of  any  definite  love 
story,  whether  the  amours  of  god  and 
goddess,  of  people  who  live  in  literature 
or  only  in  the  artist's  fancy,  are,  of  course, 
still  more  natural  divisions  of  the  book. 
After  these  come  the  real  love  stories  of 
real  people.  Here  is  where  discrimina- 
tion must  come  in  and  where  the  author's 
individual  opinion  may  war  against  that 
of  the  majority. 

When  an  artist  portrays  a  family  group, 
of  father,  mother,  and  children,  that  may 
seem  to  be  a  fair  example  of  Love  in  Art. 
At  least,  one  hopes  the  ideal  passion  was 
at  the  basis  of  the  union  which  made  the 
family  possible.  Again,  when  a  man  or 
king  commands  the  portrait  of  his  sweet- 
heart, wife,  or  mistress,  the  fulfilment  of 


INTRODUCTION.  XI 

the  order,  since  it  represents  the  man's 
or  king's  love,  might  also  reasonably  be 
counted  upon  to  come  within  the  pages 
of  this  volume. 

There  seems,  however,  one  flaw  in  the 
reasoning  of  both  these  assertions.  To 
know  what  love  is,  one  must  have  loved, 
just  as  truly  as,  to  know  what  life  is,  one 
must  have  lived.  Unless,  then,  the  love 
story  is  felt,  there  must  be  something 
lacking  to  its  perfect  presentation.  Now, 
given  certain  experiences  and  instincts,  a 
painter  may  paint  a  king's  mistress  or 
a  true  man's  bride  so  that  the  world 
might  guess  the  love  story  of  the  lustrous 
eyes,  and  curving  lips.  Undoubtedly,  how- 
ever, the  painter  usually  does  no  such 
thing.  From  some  points  of  view  a  cow- 
slip is  always  merely  a  cowslip  to  the  most 
poetic  of  artists.  Another  man's  beloved 
inspires  him,  perhaps,  to  paint  the  most 
charming  and  truthful  of  portraits.  He 


Xll  INTRODUCTION. 

does  not  put  into  it,  however,  what,  even 
without  his  knowledge,  will  always  go  into 
his  picture  of  his  own  true  love. 

It  may  be  urged  that  neither  does  the 
artist's  interpretation  of  merely  ideal,  or 
mythologic,  or  literary  love  scenes  hold  a 
truer  expression  of  his  own  feelings.  Yet, 
generally,  if  a  story  is  of  unknown  or  ideal 
people,  every  one  is  apt  to  read  into  it 
some  of  his  own  experiences,  thus  making 
it  more  truly  personal.  Besides,  painting 
or  chiselling  a  self-chosen  subject  is  always 
different  from  fulfilling  any  commission, 
even  though  it  be  to  portray  a  beautiful 
woman.  This  is  the  distinction  which 
has  seemed  of  sufficient  weight  to  decide 
the  lines  upon  which  this  book  is  laid. 
Only  when  it  appears  that  the  artist 
himself  felt  the  story  he  was  telling  has  it 
been  introduced  here.  Portraits  of  the 
loves  of  the  artists  by  the  artists  them- 
selves, then,  are  the  only  witnesses  to 


INTRODUCTION.  xiii 

the  real  love  stories  of  real  people  which 
have  been  admitted. 

The  historical  order  is  chosen  because 
it  seems  the  most  natural  and  least  confus- 
ing. As  will  be  seen,  Greek  art  is  placed 
immediately  before  that  of  the  Renais- 
sance. Roman  art  at  its  best  was  a 
hybrid,  and  all  that  was  worth  preserv- 
ing in  it  came  directly  from  the  Greek. 
Consequently,  the  book  is  divided  simply 
into  the  Greek,  Renaissance,  and  modern 
periods  of  art. 

The  line  is  somewhat  arbitrarily  drawn, 
separating  the  art  of  the  Renaissance  from 
that  of  modern  days.  It  is  always  a  ques- 
tion where  one  begins  and  the  other  leaves 
off,  unless  the  term  Renaissance  is  applied 
strictly  to  a  period  of  Italian  history.  The 
influence  of  the  great  Italians,  however, 
is  so  strongly  shown  in  the  works  of 
Velasquez,  Murillo,  Van  Dyck,  Rubens, 
Poussin,  and,  perhaps  in  a  lesser  degree, 


XIV  INTRODUCTION. 

in  Rembrandt,  that  it  seems  best  to  place 
these  masters  within  the  charmed  days  of 
the  rebuilding  of  art.  In  this  book,  then, 
modern  art  is  supposed  to  date  from 
about  the  middle  of  the  seventeenth  cen- 
tury. If  the  division  is  unsupported  by 
many  authorities,  at  least  it  has  the 
advantage  of  being  easily  remembered. 
As  this  is  not  an  exhaustive  treatise, 
but  is  primarily  for  those  who  have 
neither  time  nor  desire  to  do  much 
original  research,  and  to  present  an 
interesting  subject  in  as  uncomplicated 
and  direct  a  manner  as  possible,  the 
present  scheme  appears  to  be,  on  the 
whole,  the  best  attainable. 


PART  i. 

GREEK  ART. 


LOVE   IN   ART. 

CHAPTER   I. 

LOVE    IN    GREEK   ART. 

HERE  are  only  a  few  broken 
fragments  left  of  the  art  of 
ancient  Greece;  yet  these  frag- 
ments have  been  the  guide,  teacher,  in- 
spirer  of  all  art  of  the  Western  world,  for 
over  two  thousand  years.  The  more  one 
thinks  of  what  this  means,  the  more  mar- 
vellous it  seems.  If  these  broken,  defaced 
figures  place  this  art  above  that  of  all 
other  times  or  nations,  what  would  be 
the  result  if  we  might  see  the  unspoiled 
labor  of  those  wonderful  centuries  before 
the  Christian  era?  The  fame  of  Greek 
15 


1 6  LOVE    IN    ART. 

art  does  not  rest,  however,  upon  its  prob- 
able perfection.  It  is  the  perfection  of 
the  mutilated  remains  themselves  which 
dwarfs  all  consequent  endeavors. 

If  it  could  be  proved  that  these  memen- 
tos were  really  all  that  ever  came  from 
the  hands  of  Pheidias,  Cleomenes,  Praxi- 
teles, Scopas,  we  must  still  acknowledge 
in  them  a  beauty  since  unapproached. 
Even  more  might  be  said.  If  the  Par- 
thenon wonders  had  been  entirely  obliter- 
ated ;  if  the  Hermes  lacked  torso,  as  well 
as  arms  and  legs;  if  the  Laocoon  had 
perished  in  its  own  constrictions ;  if  not 
even  a  coin  bearing  feeble  copies  of 
renowned  statues  remained ;  if  nothing 
save  the  Venus  of  Melos  were  left  as 
witness  of  the  grandeur  of  Greek  art, 
this  statue  would  be  enough  to  show 
the  inadequacy  of  all  that  man  has  since 
accomplished. 

For  once,  popular  prejudice   and   aes- 


VENUS  OF  MELOS. 


LOVE    IN    GREEK   ART.  I§ 

thetic  criticism  are  in  accord.  To  the 
uncritical,  as  to  the  connoisseur,  this 
figure  seems  the  embodiment  of  all  the 
majesty,  power,  and  beauty  of  perfect 
womanhood.  As  she  stands  amid  her 
rich-toned  hangings  in  the  Louvre,  one 
pities  the  generations  who  never  knew 
her.  Indeed  it  is  hard  to  realize  that 
till  1825,  for  perhaps  two  thousand  years, 
her  existence  was  not  even  suspected.  So 
completely  does  she  satisfy  the  craving  for 
artistic  perfection  of  form  and  pose,  com- 
bined with  spiritual  grace  and  beauty,  that 
one  wonders  how  art  could  have  lived 
without  her. 

As  is  well  known,  modern  criticism  is 
inclined  to  assert  that  the  incomparable 
figure  was  intended  to  represent  the  God- 
dess of  Victory.  To  the  world  at  large, 
however,  she  will  remain  what  she  was 
first  called  when  taken  from  her  rocky 
hiding  on  Melos:  Venus,  the  Goddess  of 


20  LOVE    IN    ART. 

Love.  The  very  fact  that  she  is,  as  Mr. 
Stillman  says,  of  grander  lines  than  belong 
to  the  Greek  Venus,  that  her  figure  is 
more  commanding,  her  face  nobler,  only 
makes  her  more  truly  a  fit  personification 
of  what  great  love  should  be. 

No  one  knows  her  sculptor.  She  be- 
longs probably  to  the  immediately  post- 
Pheidian  epoch.  Authoritative  opinions 
attribute  her  to  the  time  and  school  of 
Scopas,  who  worked  about  the  middle  of 
the  third  century  before  Christ.  There  is 
one  bit  of  internal  evidence  to  prove  that 
she  represents  a  higher  type  of  woman- 
hood, or  goddess-hood,  than  the  Greeks 
gave  to  their  Venuses.  It  is  an  old 
Greek  saying  that  only  a  cow-herder 
like  Paris  would  ever  prefer  Praxiteles's 
Venus  to  the  Minerva  of  Pheidias.  This 
is  very  fair  testimony  as  to  what  was  con- 
sidered a  true  Venus  type.  The  records 
go  to  show  that  Pheidias,  the  loftiest 


LOVE    IN    GREEK    ART.  21 

sculptor  the  world  has  known,  never 
chiselled  a  statue  of  Venus.  No  beauty 
of  form  could  appeal  to  him  unless  it 
was  vivified  and  deified  by  nobility  of 
mind  and  spirit.  Minerva,  rather  than 
Venus,  claimed  his  worship,  and  he  carved 
many  rarely  wonderful  statues  to  her  honor. 
The  most  beautiful  of  all,  probably,  was 
the  one  that  stood  in  the  Parthenon. 
He  used  scenes  from  the  life  of  Venus, 
however,  as  accessories  to  other  groups 
and  figures.  On  the  base  of  his  greatest 
masterpiece,  the  statue  of  Jupiter,  for  in- 
stance, one  of  the  reliefs  in  gold  repre- 
sented Aphrodite  rising  from  the  sea, 
while  Eros  received  her,  and  Peitho 
crowned  her. 

Praxiteles,  on  the  contrary,  found  the 
charm  and  grace  of  the  goddess  of  love 
peculiarly  attractive,  and  he  produced 
many  exquisite  statues  of  her.  This 
artist  came  just  before  the  more  corrupt 


22  LOVE    IN    ART. 

and  sensual  age  that  succeeded  the  Pelo- 
ponnesian  War.  Lovely  as  his  work  was, 
it  lacked  something  of  the  purity  of  line 
and  conception  of  the  greater  Pheidias. 
His  Venus  of  Cnidus,  however,  was  al- 
most as  much  esteemed  as  was  the  latter's 
magnificent  Jupiter  Olympus. 

In  that  statue  she  was  shown  nude, 
standing  easily,  and  gracefully  dropping 
her  garment  on  a  vase  at  her  side.  The 
general  outlines  are  known  from  the  Cni- 
dian  coin,  and  in  the  Glyptothek  at  Mu- 
nich is  perhaps  the  most  celebrated  copy 
of  her.  His  Cupids  were  also  rarely  be- 
witching. In  the  Vatican  is  a  torso  sup- 
posed to  be  a  copy  of  one  of  them.  The 
beautiful  boy's  head  is  inclined  forward, 
and  the  face  wears  a  charmingly  soft  and 
dreamy  expression. 

To  Cleomenes,  a  contemporary,  as  well 
as  to  Praxiteles  himself,  is  attributed  the 
Venus  de  Medici.  She  was  excavated 


PRAXITELES.  —  CUPID. 


LOVE    IN    GREEK    ART.  25 

near  the  middle  of  the  fifteenth  century; 
her  arms  were  gone,  and  it  is  doubtful  if 
the  restoration  gives  their  correct  position. 
If  they  were  differently  placed,  it  seems 
sure  that  the  graceful  form  would  at  least 
show  to  better  advantage.  She  is  the 
forerunner  of  many  well-known  Venuses  : 
Venus  crouching  in  the  bath,  Venus  loos- 
ening her  sandal,  Aphrodite  Callipygus  in 
the  Museum  at  Naples,  Medicean  Venus 
in  the  Capitolene  at  Rome,  Venus  Ano- 
dyomene,  Venus  of  the  Vatican,  and 
Venus  Victrix  of  the  Louvre. 

Whether  the  ancient  masters  ever  por- 
trayed in  their  figures  of  goddess  or 
nymph  the  face  of  their  wives  or  sweet- 
hearts cannot  be  positively  known.  Per- 
haps then  as  now  some  of  the  perfection 
they  saw  in  loved  ones  was  transferred  to 
enduring  marble.  Probably,  however,  till 
the  beginning  of  the  decadence  of  the  art, 
their  greatest  triumphs  were  in  purely 


26  LOVE    IN   ART. 

ideal  conceptions.  There  are  many  copies 
of  their  Venuses  and  Cupids,  but  the  most 
beautiful  are  those  here  spoken  of.  And 
high  above  all  stands  the  glorious  Melos. 
In  truth  she  is  a  Victory  rather  than  a 
Venus,  —  the  victory  that  physical  beauty, 
when  reinforced  by  the  charms  of  mind 
and  soul,  must  always  win  over  the  mere 
perfection  of  face  and  form. 


PART  n. 

RENAISSANCE  ART. 


CHAPTER   II. 

BIBLICAL   LOVE    STORIES. 

[ANY  centuries  unproductive  of 
great  artistic  achievement  stretch 
from  the  decadence  of  Greek  art 
to  the  beginning  of  the  Italian  Renais- 
sance. At  length,  following  the  dark- 
ness of  the  middle  ages,  came  the 
first  gleams  of  the  dawn  of  that  revival 
which  was  to  blaze  to  midday  splendor 
and  sink  into  a  gorgeous  sunset,  whose 
rosy  afterglow  may  still  be  seen  even 
about  the  horizon  of  the  art  of  to-day. 

The  painter  and  sculptor  were  so  com- 
pletely the  servants  of  the  Church  during 
the  early  years  of  the  Renaissance,  that 
their  brush  and  chisel  seldom  delineated 
29 


30  LOVE    IN    ART. 

any  subject  of  a  secular  character.  Con- 
sequently artists  seldom  pictured  that  love 
which  at  its  highest  joins  man  and  woman 
in  true  wedlock.  Such  scenes  would  have 
found  few  purchasers  among  their  churchly 
patrons.  Pictures  of  the  life  of  Christ 
chiefly  appealed  to  the  taste  of  the  time ; 
but  Biblical  or  ecclesiastical  stories  of  any 
sort  were  both  legitimate  and  marketable. 
Before  the  beginning  of  the  fourteenth 
century,  the  great  Giotto  painted  on  the 
walls  of  the  Arena  Chapel  the  meeting  of 
St.  Joachim  with  his  wife  St.  Anna.  Here, 
whatever  heavenly  inspiration  fills  their 
hearts,  we  find  the  two  stately  figures  em- 
bracing each  other  very  tenderly  and  very 
humanly.  They  are  coming  from  oppo- 
site directions  across  a  passageway  under 
an  arch  raised  on  severely  simple  pillars. 
The  two  are  attended  by  youths  and  maid- 
ens, who,  heavily  draped  and  somewhat 
figureless,  are  yet  not  without  distinct 


BIBLICAL    LOVE    STORIES.  31 

actuality.  St.  Joachim's  arms  are  about 
St.  Anna,  while  her  hands  press  his  face 
close  to  hers.  In  spite  of  their  middle- 
aged  sedateness,  there  is  about  them  a 
real  feeling  of  wedded  happiness.  The 
picture  as  a  whole  perhaps  does  not  show 
Giotto  at  his  best,  but  its  lines  of  compo- 
sition are  interesting  and  forceful,  and  the 
figures  live  and  move.  The  tremendous 
advance  painting  had  made  from  the  time 
of  Giotto's  master,  Cimabue,  is  here  clearly 
shown  and  might  fairly  prove  Giotto's 
right  to  be  called  the  father  of  modern 
painting. 

Fra  Angelico,  who  came  nearly  a  cen- 
tury later,  of  all  the  painters  of  the  Re- 
naissance was  the  most  ideally  spiritual. 
Mundane  affairs  never  disturbed  his  serene 
soul,  and  his  pictures  of  saints  and  angels 
are  so  full  of  the  very  essence  of  piety  and 
religious  ardor,  that  one  can  well  believe 
Vassari's  statement  that  this  painter-monk 


32  LOVE    IN    ART. 

never  began  a  picture  without  first  seeking 
inspiration  in  prayer.  Fra  Angelico  never 
introduced  into  his  holy  scenes  anything 
more  worldly  than  the  portraits  of  some  of 
his  brother  priests.  Yet,  though  he  may 
not  have  realized  it  himself,  he  left  behind 
as  sweet  a  love  story  as  was  ever  confided 
to  wall  or  canvas.  In  the  Academy  at 
Florence  is  his  Last  Judgment,  painted 
originally  for  the  Church  of  the  Monks  of 
the  Angeli  in  Florence.  On  the  Paradise 
side  of  this  old  fresco  the  angelic  inhab- 
itants of  the  Blessed  Land  are  meeting  and 
conducting  on  their  way  the  souls  of  those 
who  are  worthy.  The  tender  rejoicing 
with  which  they  clasp  each  other  in  greet- 
ing has  surely  never  been  more  delicately, 
yet  fervidly  indicated.  In  the  foreground 
is  a  man  with  a  monk's  shaven  head.  His 
arms  are  about  a  lovely  little  angel  who 
clasps  his  neck  and  presses  his  head  to 
hers.  Near  by  are  other  pairs,  embracing 


BIBLICAL    LOVE    STORIES.  33 

with  equal  joy  and  tenderness.  The  ring 
which  they  are  joining  for  the  celestial 
dance  is  formed,  of  many  such  couples, 
holding  each  other  confidingly  by  the 
hand.  Fra  Angelico  probably  devoutly 
believed  that  in  heaven  there  would  be  no 
marriage.  Yet  even  he  could  not  depict 
the  perfect  happiness  of  united  souls,  and 
leave  wholly  untold  the  story  of  such  love 
as  existed  between  his  own  father  and 
mother. 

Fra  Filippo  Lippi,  another  painter 
from  the  priestly  ranks,  was  quite  unlike 
his  pious  predecessor.  Little  of  the  an- 
gelic quality  is  found  in  his  work,  but  he 
struck  a  joyous,  human  note,  and  in  his 
little  pictures  he  was  especially  happy. 
Like  the  majority  of  the  Renaissance 
painters,  he  principally  represented  scenes 
from  the  life  of  the  Virgin.  At  Oxford, 
however,  there  is  a  charming  panel  by  him 
that  comes  under  our  title :  the  Wedding 


34  LOVE    IN    ART. 

Feast  of  Joachim  and  Anna,  which  is  a 
fair  example  of  his  pleasing  arrangement 
of  figures,  and  his  lovely  coloring  in  deli- 
cate blues,  greens,  and  whites. 

Contemporary  with  Filippo  Lippi, 
though  outliving  him  for  nearly  thirty 
years,  was  Benozzo  Gozzoli.  He  was  a 
pupil  of  Fra  Angelico,  but  he,  too,  has 
little  of  his  master's  spirit.  He  delighted 
in  picturing  all  sorts  of  extravagances, 
from  queer  beasts,  birds,  and  reptiles,  to 
strange  and  profusely  decorated  buildings. 
He  was  one  of  the  most  naive  of  the  early 
painters,  and  his  genuine  joy  in  outdoor 
sports  and  gay  festivities  is  constantly 
shown  in  his  innumerable  decorations. 
On  the  walls  of  the  Campo  Santo,  that 
wonderful  old  burial-ground  in  Pisa,  his 
riotous  fancy  finds  full  sway,  and  here  is 
his  version  of  the  Marriage  Feast  of 
Joachim  and  Anna.  A  reproduction  of 
dancing  girls  who  seem  fairly  filled  with 


BIBLICAL   LOVE    STORIES.  35 

the  joy  of  movement  and   life,   is   taken 
from  this  scene. 

The  story  of  St.  Cecilia  was  a  favorite 
one  with  the  Italian  painters,  and  pictures 
of  her  marriage  or  meeting  with  Valerian 
are  frequently  seen.  Francesco  Francia, 
the  friend  and  admirer  of  Raphael,  painted 
one  such  marriage,  which  is  still  at  Bo- 
logna, in  the  Oratory  of  St.  Cecilia.  It 
is  a  quiet,  dignified  composition,  well,  if 
not  vividly  drawn,  showing  the  two  under 
a  marble  archway,  surrounded  by  many 
companions.  There  is  a  complete  lack  of 
jewels  or  embroideries  in  the  costumes 
of  the  pair,  and  St.  Cecilia's  white  tunic 
with  its  crimson  over-robe  and  her  sleeves 
beneath  of  a  pinkish  red,  are  richly  hand- 
some only  because  of  the  harmonious 
coloring  and  graceful  lines.  The  saint's 
face  is  slightly  immobile,  though  feminine 
and  rather  pleasing,  her  yellow  hair  being 
her  really  pretty  feature.  The  background 


36  LOVE    IN   ART. 

is  a  landscape  in  pale,  cool  green,  and  the 
composition  as  a  whole  is  stately  and 
interesting 

On  canvas,  which  was  used  by  the 
Venetians  long  before  it  was  popular  in 
the  rest  of  Italy,  Carpaccio  painted  for 
the  Scuolo  of  St.  Ursula  an  exquisite 
meeting  of  the  Prince  of  Britain  with 
Ursula.  This  is  now  in  the  Academy  at 
Venice,  and  in  grace  of  form  and  move- 
ment, and  charm  of  expression,  is  worthy 
to  be  placed  high  on  the  list  of  beautiful 
works.  Carpaccio  has  caught  the  very 
essence  of  the  pure,  devout  spirit  which 
legend  says  characterized  those  two 
youthful  saints.  Another  love  scene  by 
this  sensitive  painter  is  his  meeting  of 
Joachim  and  Anna,  now  in  the  Academy 
at  Venice. 

In  the  Loggia  of  the  Vatican  in  Rome 
are  the  remarkable  frescoes  called  Ra- 
phael's Bible.  Among  these  world-famous 


BIBLICAL    LOVE    STORIES.  39 

scenes  is  that  of  the  first  meeting  between 
Jacob  and  Rachel.  It  has  not  quite  the 
symmetry  and  noble  lines  in  composition 
of  most  of  the  great  Umbrian's  work,  but 
it  is  delightful  for  its  pastoral  simplicity 
in  color  and  drawing.  Wonderfully  real 
sheep  are  thirstily  drinking  at  the  trough, 
while  Rachel  and  the  girl  with  her  have 
turned  towards  the  bearded  stranger  who 
is  rapidly  approaching.  His  outstretched 
hand,  his  whole  air  of  eager  admiration, 
as  he  gazes  at  Rachel,  tell  the  story  of 
his  attraction.  She,  in  turn,  looks  at 
him  from  under  lowered  lids,  a  half  con- 
scious blush  showing  upon  her  drooping 
face. 

David  Watching  Bathsheba  is  also  in 
the  same  collection.  The  future  mother 
of  Solomon  does  not  appear  as  beautiful 
as  the  old  story  describes  her,  except  per- 
haps for  her  long  wavy  hair,  which  she  is 
brushing.  David's  charmed  delight,  how- 


4O  LOVE    IN    ART. 

ever,  as  he  leans  forward  watching  her, 
are  clearly  shown  in  his  face  and  pose. 
Raphael  was  only  twenty-five  when  he 
painted  these  frescoes,  and  though  his 
art  grew  with  every  year  of  his  life,  even 
at  that  age  he  had  left  most  of  his  com- 
petitors far  behind  him. 

The  one  wall  painting  which  is  surely 
Titian's  is  in  the  Carmine  in  Padua,  and 
is  probably  the  only  Biblical  love  story 
his  brush  ever  essayed.  It  represents  the 
meeting  of  Joachim  and  Anna,  and  is  not 
Titian  at  his  best. 

One  thinks  of  Giorgione  as  antedating 
Titian,  yet  he  really  was  born  a  year  later. 
If  he  had  lived  to  Titian's  age,  Cadore 
might  not  have  been  the  birthplace  of  the 
greatest  of  Venetian  painters.  There  is 
little  left  now  to  show  what  Giorgione 
actually  accomplished,  but  it  is  enough 
to  prove  him  a  better  draughtsman  and  a 
no  less  marvellous  colorist  than  his  famous 


BIBLICAL   LOVE    STORIES.  4! 

rival.  One  of  his  supposed  works  is  the 
Meeting  of  Jacob  and  Rachel,  now  in 
the  Dresden  gallery.  In  this  painting 
the  absence  of  affectation,  the  freshness 
of  motive,  and  the  wonderful  expression 
in  both  their  faces,  and  especially  in  that 
of  the  shepherd  boy  watching  the  love 
greeting,  make  it  far  more  beautiful  than 
the  one  in  the  Vatican. 

The  sixteenth  century  had  passed  its 
first  quarter,  when  Paul  Veronese  was 
born.  His  very  name  calls  up  a  series 
of  glorious-colored,  life-embued  composi- 
tions which  give  him  a  unique  place  even 
among  the  color-loving  Venetians.  The 
best  known  of  all  his  works  are  perhaps 
his  series  of  frescoes  in  St.  Sebastian,  illus- 
trating the  Life  of  Esther,  the  woman  who 
won  the  love  and  honor  of  Ahasuerus. 
One  of  these  shows  the  Jewish  girl  led 
down  a  royal  flight  of  marble  steps  to  the 
king.  It  has  all  the  life,  light,  and  verve 


42  LOVE    IN    ART. 

that  characterize  this  Venetian.  Though 
there  is  a  suspicion  of  the  theatric  in 
Esther's  pose,  and  in  that  of  the  man 
bowing  before  her,  the  general  lines  of 
the  composition  are  grand,  and  the 
masses  are  splendidly  balanced.  An- 
other shows  Esther  richly  and  exquis- 
itely dressed,  fainting  in  the  arms  of  two 
attendants,  while  the  king  starts  towards 
her  from  his  throne. 

With  the  exception  of  Tintoretto, 
Veronese  is  the  last  great  name  of  the 
Renaissance.  For  the  next  century  the 
true  spirit  of  these  years  of  revival  is  to 
be  found  in  other  countries,  who  thus  late 
came  under  the  influence  of  Italian  art  as 
it  was  at  its  best. 

Contemporary  with  Giovanni  Bellini, 
Titian,  and  Veronese,  were  the  two  great 
Northerners,  Holbein  and  Diirer.  Hol- 
bein left  a  series  of  woodcuts  showing 
Esther  crowned  queen,  with  the  king 


BIBLICAL    LOVE    STORIES.  43 

whom  her  beauty  had  subjugated  beside 
her.  Diirer  painted  Anna  and  Joachim 
embracing  at  the  Gate  of  Jerusalem. 

Nearly  a  century  later,  Nicholas  Pous- 
sin,  father  of  the  classic  school  of  painting 
in  France,  was  continuing  with  indefati- 
gable zeal  the  traditions  of  the  masters  of 
art.  His  Ruth  and  Boaz,  in  the  Louvre, 
is  one  of  his  most  characteristic  Biblical 
subjects.  This  represents  a  large  field 
full  of  women  harvesting.  Ruth  in  the 
foreground  kneels  in  front  of  Boaz,  who 
in  answer  to  her  supplications  orders  a 
slave  to  let  the  charming  girl  glean  as  she 
desires.  The  drawing  and  composition 
are  excellent  and  dignified,  and  something 
of  the  spirit  of  old  Biblical  history  dwells 
upon  the  scene.  In  the  same  gallery  hangs 
his  Eliezer  and  Rebecca. 

Here,  too,  is  one  of  Rembrandt's  works, 
Bathsheba  Reading  a  Letter  from  David. 
In  color,  this  is  as  charming  as  anything 


44  LOVE    IN    ART. 

Titian  or  Correggio  ever  achieved.  The 
flesh  tints  of  Bathsheba,  who  sits  nude 
on  a  white-covered  couch,  are  exquisite. 
Another  Biblical  love  scene  by  the  great 
Dutchman  is  Samson's  Wedding,  a  some- 
what boisterous  composition,  rather  in 
Rembrandt's  later  style. 

Guido  Reni  was  born  more  than  twenty- 
five  years  before  Rembrandt,  and  with 
none  of  his  mighty  genius.  But,  even  if 
his  own  talent  had  been  greater,  the  deca- 
dence into  which  Italy  had  fallen  might 
have  benumbed  it  to  incomplete  expres- 
sion. Guide's  works,  however,  have 
always  been  very  popular.  A  certain 
story-telling  quality,  joined  to  extremely 
pleasing  color,  has  made  him  a  favorite. 
His  Rebecca  at  the  Well  is  a  fair  example 
of  his  style.  Rebecca's  face  is  sweetly  at- 
tractive, and  if  Eliezer  was  not  personally 
charmed  with  the  helpful  maiden,  he  was 
of  sterner  stuff  than  have  been  the  emis- 


GUIDO  REXI.  —  REBECCA  AT  THE  WELL. 


BIBLICAL    LOVE    STORIES.  47 

saries  of  most  princes.     It  hangs  in  the 
Pitti  at  Florence. 

The  Spanish  Murillo  painted  this  same 
subject.  In  his  work  Eliezer  has  already 
begun  to  drink  from  the  pitcher.  It  is 
rather  less  theatric  and  is  better  balanced 
than  the  former.  It  now  hangs  in  the 
Museum  of  Madrid. 


CHAPTER   III. 

VENUS    AND   CUPID. 

VENETIAN  art  was  late  in  devel- 
oping, and  almost  from  its  birth 
it  differed  radically  from  that  of 
its  sister  cities.  Religion  in  Venice 
lent  itself  readily  to  all  the  gorgeousness 
and  pomp  that  were  a  very  part  of  the 
city's  existence,  and  there  was  little  more 
of  the  ascetic  in  cloister  and  church  than 
in  civic  life.  As  a  natural  sequence  the 
Greek  goddess  of  love  very  early  became 
a  subject  for  Venetian  painters. 

Giovanni,  son  of  Jacopo  Bellini,  first  of 

those  great  Venetians  whose  color  was  to 

capture  the  world,  painted  Venus  at  least 

twice.     One,  called  the  Venus  of  the  Bei- 

48 


VENUS    AND    CUPID.  49 

vedere,  is  now  in  Vienna.  The  other, 
Venus  as  Empress  of  the  World,  is  in 
the  Museum  of  Fine  Arts  in  Venice. 
To  our  modern  view,  there  is  some- 
thing crude  and  hard  about  this  latter, 
and  Venus  has  little  of  her  historic 
beauty.  It  is  an  extremely  interesting 
composition,  however,  though  it  falls  far 
behind  the  wonderful  Bellini  Madonnas, 
one  or  two  of  which  in  many  respects 
have  never  yet  been  surpassed. 

Andrea  Mantegna  married  Bellini's 
sister,  but  in  the  somewhat  uncouth, 
if  rarely  vigorous  works  of  Mantegna, 
there  is  little  to  show  the  influence  of 
his  brother-in-law.  In  the  Louvre  is  an 
example  of  him  at  his  very  best.  It  rep- 
resents the  Muses  dancing  to  Apollo's 
lyre,  while  Mars,  Venus,  and  Cupid  stand 
on  a  rocky  height  looking  down  upon 
them.  At  a  slight  distance  Vulcan  is 
threatening  his  faithless  spouse.  The 


50  LOVE    IN    ART. 

very  spirit  of  Greek  art  is  in  this  little 
picture.  It  is  composed  with  all  Man- 
tegna's  wonderful  feeling  for  line,  bal- 
ance, and  mass,  and  the  figures  are 
drawn  with  less  of  that  meagreness 
which  characterizes  many  of  his  classical 
subjects. 

Contemporary  with  these  two  men, 
though  not  born  until  1447,  was  one 
Florentine  who  had  little  in  common 
with  his  churchly  brethren.  The  weird 
imagination  of  Sandro  Botticelli  gives 
him  a  unique  place  among  the  artists 
of  any  age  or  country.  During  the  rage 
of  Pre-Raphaelitism,  worship  of  him  was 
rampantly  insisted  upon.  To-day  there  are 
two  strongly  antagonistic  opinions  con- 
cerning him.  Either  he  is  tremendously 
admired  or  tremendously  detested.  It 
has  to  be  admitted  that  his  work  is  capa- 
ble of  arousing  some  kind  of  intense 
thought  and  feeling ;  indifference  to  it  is 


VENUS    AND    CUPID.  53 

hardly  possible.  He  painted  numbers  of 
Venuses,  and  of  them  all  the  one  called 
the  Birth  of  Venus,  in  the  Uffizi,  is  per- 
haps the  most  beautiful.  The  goddess, 
standing  in  a  charmingly  graceful  attitude 
upon  a  huge  shell,  is  borne  to  earth  by 
numerous  loves  and  graces.  Much  has 
been  written  of  Botticelli's  wonderful  feel- 
ing for  the  rhythm  of  line.  Even  the 
least  of  his  admirers  must  recognize 
the  exquisite  sense  of  curve  and  move- 
ment in  the  long  hair  of  the  goddess, 
and  in  the  outline  of  her  figure.  If  the 
face  were  less  mournful,  with  less  of  the 
strained  expression  which  we  of  nine- 
teenth century  nerves  know  so  well,  this 
work  would  surely  have  captivated  even 
Botticelli's  detractors.  Another  Venus, 
less  celebrated,  in  the  National  Gallery 
of  London,  shows  her  reclining,  while 
Amorini  pelt  her  with  roses.  In  the 
same  gallery  is  still  another  Venus,  fully 


54  LOVE    IN    ART. 

robed,  partly  sitting,  and  partly  lying, 
watching  with  a  resigned  expression  the 
apparently  noisy  sleep  of  a  stolid-faced 
Mars.  Two  or  three  Satyrs  enjoy  the 
scene,  and  are  evidently  the  only  ones 
who  see  any  fun  in  it.  One  twisting 
over  towards  them  is  a  veritable  imp. 
The  lines  of  composition,  and  especially 
the  line  from  Mar's  shoulders  to  his  foot, 
are  beautiful.  Otherwise  there  is  little 
in  the  picture  to  give  pleasure.  In 
the  Louvre  is  yet  one  more  Venus  by 
Botticelli,  less  notable  than  the  two  just 
mentioned. 

Raphael  painted  no  Venus.  His  de- 
signs in  the  Farnesina  were  only  drawn 
by  him,  and  then  colored  by  his  scholars. 
The  outline  sketches,  however,  are  Ra- 
phael's art  at  its  height,  and  repay  the 
most  careful  study.  To  mention  only  a 
few  of  them :  Venus  pointing  out  Psyche 
to  Cupid,  who  is  now  a  youth,  and  Venus 


VENUS    AND    CUPID.  55 

sitting  on  a  rock  with  some  drapery 
streaming  behind  her.  The  fitting  of  this 
and  all  the  other  subjects  into  the  spaces 
assigned  to  them  is  a  wonderful  example 
of  one  side  of  the  master's  genius.  An- 
other shows  Venus  seeking  aid  from  Juno 
and  Ceres.  She  is  nude,  save  a  bit  of 
drapery  about  her  loins,  one  end  of  which 
she  holds  in  her  right  hand.  Again,  in 
her  car  drawn  by  doves,  she  is  on  her 
way  to  obtain  assistance  from  Jupiter. 

In  the  Venice  Museum  are  two  ex- 
quisite drawings  of  Cupids.  In  one  the 
chubby  little  fellows  are  dancing,  and 
though  Raphael  hardly  more  than  indi- 
cated the  contours  of  their  figures,  it  is 
wonderful  how  adequately  the  joy  and 
merriment  are  expressed.  The  other 
shows  four  little  Loves  with  a  pig  which 
they  have  captured  and  killed.  One  is 
pulling  his  playmate  away  as  he  tries 
to  step  upon  the  prostrate  animal. 


56  LOVE    IN    ART. 

Michael  Angelo  spent  little  time  por- 
traying the  softer  emotions  of  mankind 
and  he  is  known  to  have  made  only 
one  cartoon  of  Venus.  A  colored  copy 
of  this  which  shows  her  embracing  Cupid, 
was  made  by  Pontormo,  and  is  in  the 
Uffizi.  A  sleeping  Cupid  was  executed 
by  Michael  Angelo  in  his  early  youth, 
and  its  beauty  at  once  made  him  famous. 
No  one  knows  what  has  become  of  this, 
though  Symonds  and  some  others  sug- 
gest a  statue  which  is  in  the  Liceo  of 
Mantua.  Another  Cupid  by  him  is  in 
the  South  Kensington  Museum. 

Only  one  Venus  by  Giorgione  is 
thought  to  be  in  existence,  and  it  has 
been  questioned  if  even  that  is  really 
his.  Modern  criticism,  however,  gener- 
ally accords  him  the  lovely  sleeping 
Venus  in  Dresden.  This  exquisite  figure 
lies  at  full  length  on  the  sward,  one  arm 
over  her  head,  her  eyes  closed,  the  very 


CORREGGIO.  —  EDUCATION  OF  CUPID. 


VENUS    AND    CUPID.  59 

spirit  of  sleep  decended  upon  her.  The 
drawing  and  flesh  tones  are  equally  su- 
perb; nothing  of  more  perfect  feminine 
beauty  and  charm  is  known  in  all  the 
work  of  the  Renaissance. 

The  Education  of  Cupid,  where  Mercury 
is  teaching  the  young  god  to  write,  while 
Venus  looks  on  smilingly,  is  one  of  Cor- 
reggio's  works,  showing  him  at  his  best. 
He  gave  more  care  to  line  and  composi- 
tion in  this  than  in  many  of  his  paintings, 
and  it  has,  too,  all  the  truth  of  drawing 
and  beauty  of  color,  so  characteristic  of 
this  "Faun  and  Ariel  "of  the  Renaissance 
as  Symonds  calls  him.  The  figure  of 
Venus  is  marvellously  perfect,  and  if  she 
lacks  something  of  the  grandeur  of  the 
sculptured  Venus  of  Melos,  she  has  still 
less  of  the  earthiness  of  the  Medici. 
Here,  for  the  first  time  in  this  brief 
summing  of  the  noted  Venuses  of  the 
Renaissance,  is  a  charmingly  studied  ef- 


6O  LOVE    IN    ART. 

feet  of  chiaroscuro.  Every  bit  of  light- 
imbued  flesh  is  balanced  by  adequate  and 
rich-toned  shadow.  The  whole  is  a  joy- 
ous scene  from  the  heart  of  Olympia. 
It  is  now  in  the  National  Gallery  at 
London. 

Luxurious,  rounding  form,  exquisite 
flesh,  and  glorious  red  hair  distinguished 
the  women  Titian  painted  over  and  over. 
He  named  each  a  Venus,  but  in  many 
cases  the  title  seems  hardly  appropriate. 
Modern  taste  would  oftener  call  the 
pictures  merely  studies  of  nude  women. 
Presumably,  Titian  painted  the  models 
he  chose  because  their  beauty  of  line 
and  color  made  him  wish  to  transfer 
them  to  canvas.  Once  finished,  how- 
ever, the  taste  of  the  time  demanded  a 
literary  reason  for  their  existence,  and 
they  became  "  Venuses." 

The  first  great  canvas  of  Titian's 
youth  was  Sated  and  Artless  Love.  It 


VENUS    AND    CUPID.  63 

has  also  been  called  Sacred  and  Pro- 
fane Love,  though  in  that  case  it  seems 
difficult  to  decide  which  figure  is  sacred 
and  which  profane.  Sated  Love  sits  at 
one  side  of  the  picture  fully  dressed  in 
softest  silk,  shimmering  with  gray  reflec- 
tions and  belted  with  a  red  girdle  with 
jewel  clasp.  In  one  of  her  hands  are 
some  fading  roses.  Artless  Love  is  nude 
except  for  a  bit  of  golden  white  drapery, 
enhancing  the  still  more  golden  whiteness 
of  her  skin.  Her  hair  is  chestnut,  and 
falling  from  her  left  arm  are  folds  of 
crimson  silk.  Between  the  two,  Cupid 
leans  over  the  heavily  carved  fountain  or 
well  and  dabbles  in  the  water.  Titian 
never  painted  anything  more  delicate  and 
graceful  than  the  nude  woman  here.  The 
picture  is  now  in  the  Borghese  Gallery. 

His  Venus  of  Darmstadt  lies  asleep  on 
red  velvet  cushions,  with  one  arm  under 
her  shoulder.  This  has  been  largely 


64  LOVE    IN    ART. 

repainted.  The  outlines,  however,  are 
beautiful,  and  the  curves  of  the  body 
exquisite. 

In  Venus  with  the  Shell  there  is  a  per- 
feet  rounding  of  the  flesh,  done  almost 
without  the  help  of  shadow.  Its  silvery 
color  contrasts  superbly  with  the  brighter 
tones  of  the  hair,  water,  and  sky. 

The  Tribuna  of  the  Uffizi  holds  another 
Venus,  painted  about  1537.  Compared 
with  the  Darmstadt,  she  is  more  fully 
matured,  yet  still  lithe  and  slender. 
Crowe  and  Cavalcaselle's  description  of 
this  canvas  may  be  quoted  in  full. 
"  Lying  as  nature  shaped  her,  with  her 
legs  entwined  at  the  foot  of  a  deep  green 
hanging,  on  a  muslin  sheet  that  covers  a 
ruby  tinged  damask  couch,  her  left  arm 
reposes  on  her  frame,  her  right  support- 
ing her  on  cushions  whilst  the  hand]  is 
playing  with  a  chaplet  of  flowers.  We 
may  fancy  her  to  have  bathed  and  to  be 


VENUS    AND    CUPID.  65 

waiting  for  the  handmaids  who  are  busy 
in  the  room,  one  of  them  having  raised 
the  lid  of  a  chest  and  taken  a  dress  out, 
whilst  a  second  stoops  to  select  another. 
Meanwhile,  a  little  dog  sits  curled  up  on 
the  couch.  In  forming  this  Venus,  if 
Venus  be  an  appropriate  name,  Titian 
seems  to  have  conceived  his  picture,  not 
after  the  model  of  a  Phryne,  nor  yet  with 
the  thought  of  realizing  anything  more 
sublime  than  woman  in  her  fairest 
aspect."  He  does  what  no  other  master 
of  any  age  does  so  well,  —  makes  "  a  beau- 
teous living  being  whose  fair  and  polished 
skin  is  depicted  with  enamelled  gloss,  and 
yet  with  every  shade  of  modulation  which 
a  delicate  flesh  comports;  flesh  not  mar- 
bled or  cold,  but  sweetly  toned,  and  man- 
tling with  life's  blood,  flesh  that  seems  to 
heave  and  rise  and  fall  with  every  breath. 
Perfect  distribution  of  space,  a  full  and 
ringing  harmony  of  tints,  atmosphere 


66  LOVE    IN    ART. 

both  warm  and  mellow,  are  all  combined 
with  something  that  is  real;  and  we  feel 
as  we  look  into  the  canvas  that  we  might 
walk  into  that  apartment,  and  find  room 
to  wander  in  the  gray  twilight  into  which 
it  is  thrown  by  the  summer  sky  that  shows 
through  the  coupled  windows." 

At  Florence,  too,  is  his  Venus  and 
Cupid.  Here  the  goddess  turns  to  listen 
to  her  son,  who  whispers  over  her  shoul- 
der and  puts  a  tiny  hand  upon  her  throat. 
In  this  picture  the  lovely  woman  is  in 
truth  the  goddess,  calm,  passionless,  beau- 
tiful. The  boy  Cupid  is  arch  and  hand- 
some, and  as  typical  of  Titian  as  are 
Raphael's  cherubs  in  the  Sistine  Ma- 
donna of  him. 

The  Venus  of  Madrid  and  the  Venus 
of  St.  Petersburg  are  two  more  of  his  fa- 
mous canvases,  though  little  of  his  own 
color  is  left  on  the  latter. 

Once   more,  in   the   Borghese   Palace, 


VENUS    AND    CUPID.  69 

Venus  and  Two  Graces  teach  Cupid  his 
vocation.  Here  the  goddess  is  clothed, 
but  her  arms  are  bare  and  show  every 
lovely  curve  as  she  binds  the  eyes  of 
Eros,  who  leans  upon  her  lap.  She 
listens  to  the  whispers  of  another  Cupid 
resting  on  her  shoulder;  and  behind 
them  is  a  sky  of  pearly  tints  above  a 
landscape  of  hills. 

Veronese,  whose  glorious  story  of 
Esther  has  been  mentioned,  was  no  less 
wonderful  in  other  subjects.  At  Rome, 
in  the  Borghese,  is  a  Venus  by  him 
that  is  more  truly  drawn  than  most  of 
Titian's,  and  is  no  less  superb  for  its 
flesh  tones.  The  fair  woman  is  resting 
on  a  seat  upon  which  stands  a  gay  little 
Cupid.  A  satyr  on  the  other  side  of 
Venus  raises  a  basket  above  his  head. 

Tintoretto  cared  more  for  telling  a 
story  originally  than  for  perfect  con- 
struction of  his  figures.  Often  he  was 


7O  LOVE    IN    ART. 

theatric  and  over-elaborate,  but,  at  his 
best,  unequalled  in  expressing  movement 
and  the  glimmering  of  light  on  polished 
flesh.  The  Pitti  Gallery  in  Florence 
holds  one  of  his  well-known  pictures, 
the  family  group  of  Venus,  Cupid,  and 
Vulcan.  Venus  lies  somewhat  on  her 
side,  leaning  upon  her  elbow  as  she  gazes 
at  the  baby  Cupid  on  her  arm.  Vulcan 
bends  over,  lifting  the  drapery  from  the 
baby.  As  usual,  the  drawing  is  not 
impeccable,  and  the  faces  are  not  over- 
beautiful.  Venus,  nevertheless,  is  charm- 
ing, and  the  difference  in  tone  between 
her  light,  brilliant  flesh  and  the  rugged 
darkness  of  Vulcan  is  strongly  effective. 
Very  different  from  Titian's  are  the 
Venuses  of  Rubens,  the  painter,  states- 
man, courtier,  scholar.  The  overbuxom- 
ness,  the  too-too  solid  flesh  of  almost  all 
the  women  in  his  pictures,  whether  they 
were  goddesses,  nymphs,  or  mortals,  is 


VENUS    AND    CUPID.  Jl 

probably  owing  to  the  type  of  model  he 
found  about  him  in  Antwerp.  In  spite 
of  extraordinary  composition,  rich  flesh 
tones,  and  truth  of  construction,  these 
billowy  folds  of  flesh  are  never  quite 
forgotten.  His  Birth  of  Venus  in  the 
National  Gallery,  and  his  Venus  with 
Cupid  and  Adonis,  and  the  picture  of 
Mars  and  Venus,  are  three  fairly  repre- 
sentative ones  of  his  classic  style. 

Van  Dyck  was  the  inspired,  dissipated 
portrait-painter  of  the  court  of  Charles 
the  First  of  England.  Wonderful  in 
color,  line,  and  execution,  Van  Dyck's 
works  are  the  direct  outcome  of  the 
Italian  Renaissance,  yet  are  wholly  his 
own.  Although  preeminently  a  portrait- 
painter,  his  work  in  other  lines  is  almost 
equally  interesting,  and  several  of  his 
Venuses  are  noteworthy  and  beautiful. 
Among  them  are  his  Venus  and  Adonis; 
Venus  and  Vulcan,  in  the  Louvre ;  Venus 


72  LOVE    IN    ART. 

looking  at  herself  in  a  mirror  held  by  a 
negro,  which  was  probably  directly  influ- 
enced by  Titian ;  Venus  taking  off  the 
Armor  of  Mars;  and  many  pictures  of 
Cupids.  One  of  these  shows  him  fast 
asleep  in  the  position  of  Giorgione's 
Venus.  He  is  chubby  and  curly-wigged, 
but  there  is  little  of  the  rogue  about  him. 
By  the  later  Italians,  those  men  who 
came  just  after  the  last  word  in  painting 
and  sculpture  had  been  said,  there  are 
many  delightful  portrayals  of  the  god- 
dess of  love  and  her  son.  In  Vienna, 
Caracci  is  represented  by  a  Venus  and 
Cupid,  and  Bronzino  has  one  of  the  same 
subject  in  the  Uffizi.  Two  others  of 
his  are  Venus,  Cupid,  Folly,  and  Time, 
in  the  National  Gallery,  London,  and 
Venus  with  Cupid  and  a  Satyr,  in  the 
Colonna  Gallery  in  Rome.  Guercino  has 
a  charming  drawing  of  a  Girl  and  Cupid 
in  the  Museum  at  Venice,  and  another  of 


VENUS    AND    CUPID.  73 

Venus  and  Cupid  in  Rome.  Domeni- 
chino,  called  the  greatest  painter  of  the 
Bolognese,  has  a  delightful  Venus,  Cupid, 
and  Satyr  in  the  Pitti.  Albani,  portrayer 
of  delicate  feminine  subjects,  has  a  Venus 
with  Cupids  in  the  Corsini  Gallery  at 
Rome,  and  another  of  Cupids  dancing 
about  a  tree,  while  Venus  watches  from 
the  clouds.  Guido  Reni  has  a  charac- 
teristically sweet  and  tender  Cupid  in 
the  Corsini;  another  in  the  Gallery  of 
St.  Luke  in  Rome,  where  he  stands 
with  bent  knee,  and  one  uplifted  hand 
holding  an  arrow.  Still  another  is 
asleep,  lying  on  his  left  side  with  his 
wings  stretched  behind  him.  This  last 
is  a  very  lovely,  sleepy  little  god,  well 
drawn  and  with  graceful  lines  of  com- 
position. 

Poussin,  of  course,  with  his  taste  for 
classic  lore,  painted  both  Venus  and 
Cupid.  In  Dresden  is  his  Sleeping 


74  LOVE    IN    ART. 

Venus,  which,  in  spite  of  the  painter's 
study  of  the  antique,  looks  rather  too 
much  like  a  French  nymph.  The  land- 
scape behind  her  is  hard  and  polished. 
Among  his  others  are  a  Venus  and 
Adonis,  in  the  Montpellier  Museum ; 
Venus  Asleep,  at  Dresden ;  Venus  Mourn- 
ing Adonis,  and  a  Venus  and  Mars  in 
the  Louvre. 

Velasquez  rarely  painted  the  nude. 
The  religious  fervor  which  pervaded  the 
court  of  Philip  the  Fourth  frowned  upon 
the  too  vivid  portrayal  of  beautiful  flesh. 
One  Queen  of  Love,  however,  he  did 
paint,  now  at  Rokeby  Park,  England. 
The  goddess  reclines  with  her  back 
turned,  her  face  reflecting  in  a  mirror, 
which  is  held  by  a  kneeling  Cupid  at  the 
foot  of  the  couch.  This  is  a  companion 
piece  to  one  by  Titian,  and  is  said  to  rival 
it  in  drawing,  color,  and  wonderful  flesh 
tones. 


VENUS    AND    CUPID.  75 

Venus  appealed  almost  as  little,  appar- 
ently, to  Rembrandt  as  to  his  Spanish 
compeer.  In  the  Louvre  is  his  Venus 
and  Love,  which,  however,  is  more  truly 
a  picture  of  maternal  devotion.  A  brown- 
haired  woman  wearing  a  green  dress,  with 
unhooked  chemisette,  fondles  a  small  Love 
wrapped  in  gray  cloth,  standing  on  her 
knee  with  his  wings  spread  out.  The 
color  of  this  picture  is  unsurpassed;  the 
flesh  is  as  clear  and  pure  and  vividly  real 
as  in  the  greatest  works  of  the  Venetians. 


CHAPTER  IV. 

MYTHS    AND    FANCIES. 

[ Y  the  time  of  Raphael,  artists  all 
over  Italy  had  ceased  to  confine 
themselves  to  the  portrayal  of 
religious  subjects.  Though  the  northern 
part  of  the  Peninsula  still  chiefly  pro- 
duced Madonnas,  Ascensions,  Cruci- 
fixions, and  the  like,  even  there  painters 
frequently  illustrated  fancies  of  their  own 
or  scenes  from  pagan  mythology. 

Pier  di  Cosimo,  who  helped  Roselli 
with  his  frescoes  of  the  Sistine  Chapel, 
painted  some  charming  scenes  from  the 
Greek  myths.  In  Florence  is  his  story 

of  Andromeda,   one   scene   showing   her 
76 


MYTHS    AND    FANCIES.  77 

rescue  by  Perseus,  and  in  Milan  hangs 
his  Theseus  and  Ariadne.  Pier  was  in- 
fluenced by  Signorelli,  Filippo  Lippi, 
and  Leonardo  da  Vinci,  while  he  in  turn 
was  the  teacher  of  Andrea  del  Sarto. 
His  color  is  beautiful  and  transparent, 
his  drawing  excellent,  his  ideas  thor- 
oughly original.  At  present  few  of  his 
pictures  are  known  to  be  in  existence. 

The  story  of  Danae,  one  of  the  loves 
of  Jupiter,  has  been  a  favorite  theme 
with  painters.  A  version  of  the  tale  by 
Lorenzo  di  Tomasso  Lotto  differs  greatly 
from  all  others.  The  picture  is  in  a 
private  collection,  but  Danae  is  described 
as  lying  fully  clothed  in  a  wooded  land- 
scape, while  Cupid  pours  a  shower  of 
gold  from  the  clouds.  A  female  satyr 
watches,  peering  from  behind  a  tree,  and 
a  faun  is  stretched  out  in  the  foreground. 
It  is  painted  on  wood,  and  is  less  than  a 
foot  square.  Danae  is  poorly  drawn,  and 


78  LOVE    IN    ART. 

the  color  is  not  particularly  pleasing.  It 
is  evident,  however,,  that  the  treatment  of 
the  theme  is  Lotto's  own,  not  in  the  least 
an  adaptation  of  some  other  painter's. 

In  the  Madrid  gallery  is  a  really  won- 
derful example  of  this  master,  who  has 
only  lately  begun  to  be  fully  appreciated. 
A  Bride  and  Bridegroom  sit  side  by  side, 
the  man  a  little  back  of  the  woman,  while 
she  leans  slightly  towards  him.  He  holds 
her  hand,  and  is  about  to  place  upon  it  a 
ring.  Behind  them  is  Cupid,  who,  look- 
ing at  the  new  husband  with  a  merry 
twinkle  in  his  eye,  places  a  laurel-wreathed 
yoke  upon  their  necks.  The  color  of  the 
picture  is  very  gray,  so  that  photographs 
of  it  give  an  unusually  correct  representa- 
tion. Berenson  says :  "  This  is  perhaps 
the  first  positively  humorous  interpreta- 
tion of  characters  and  a  situation  that  we 
have  in  Italian  painting,  and  we  never 
again  have  it  so  well  done.  The  char- 


MYTHS    AND    FANCIES.  79 

acters  are  presented  to  us  as  distinctly  as 
in  a  modern  psychological  novel,  and  in 
our  minds  no  more  doubt  is  left  than  in 
Cupid's  as  to  which  of  the  two  will  be 
master  in  the  new  household." 

Among  Raphael's  drawings  for  the 
Farnesina  is  the  delightful  Cupid  and 
Psyche  series.  In  one  of  the  loveliest  of 
these  Cupid  shows  Psyche  to  the  Graces. 
The  drawing  and  placing  of  Cupid  is 
masterly,  and  one  of  the  Graces  in  the 
foreground,  who  stands  with  her  back 
turned,  is  particularly  exquisite  in  line 
and  pose.  Another  is  the  Nuptial  Ban- 
quet of  Cupid  and  Psyche,  where  all  the 
gods  and  goddesses  are  eating  and  drink- 
ing health  to  the  young  couple. 

The  wonderful  drawing  and  con- 
struction of  Michael  Angelo's  Leda  and 
the  Swan,  now  in  the  Dresden  gallery, 
are  too  well  known  to  need  further 
description. 


8O  LOVE    IN    ART. 

The  Leda  of  Leonardo  da  Vinci  is  not 
one  of  his  great  works.  Leda,  who  stands 
with  her  arms  about  the  swan,  is  ill-drawn 
and  unpleasing,  and  the  composition  as 
a  whole  is  not  attractive.  It  \vas  in  the 
Bourbon  Palace. 

As  famous  as  his  Venuses  are  Titian's 
many  love  scenes  of  god  and  goddess. 
One  of  the  best  known  is  Bacchus  and 
Ariadne,  which  he  painted  at  the  court 
of  the  Estes,  and  which  is  now  in 
England.  Ariadne's  lawn  tunic  is  loosely 
enwrapped  in  an  azure  peplum,  around 
which  is  a  red  scarf.  The  yEgean  in  the 
distance  is  a  deep,  delicious  blue,  and 
the  sky  curves  over  it  full  of  white  clouds 
and  myriad  stars.  The  picture  is  perfect 
in  its  classical  spirit,  the  movement  is 
wonderful,  and  the  flesh  and  form  of 
Ariadne,  who  is  in  a  focus  of  light,  are  as 
exquisite  as  even  Titian  could  make 
them. 


MYTHS    AND    FANCIES.  8 1 

The  Danae  of  this  master,  now  in 
Naples,  is  little  like  Lotto's.  Though 
more  voluptuous,  it  is  much  better  art. 
The  maid,  scantily  covered  with  a  veil,  is 
half  reclining  on  snow-white  cushions. 
Her  face  is  mostly  in  shadow,  but  the 
entire  length  of  her  fair  body  is  thrown 
into  intense  light.  Cupid,  a  full-grown 
boy,  glides  away  with  outstretched  wings, 
and  his  gesture  of  surprise  at  the  shower 
of  golden  pieces  is  dramatically  perfect. 
Daylight  seems  about  fading  as  it  lingers 
on  the  boy,  and  behind  him  the  last  rays 
of  light  are  swallowed  up  in  darkness. 
The  chiaroscuro  of  this  picture  is  so  per- 
fectly balanced,  the  modelling  so  finished, 
the  painting  of  the  flesh  so  surpassingly 
fine,  that  it  seems  wholly  unapproachable. 

Yet  when  one  looks  at  his  Jupiter  and 
Antiope,  one  feels  that  the  same  ecstatic 
praise  is  again  deserved.  As  one  critic 
has  said,  "  Distribution,  movement,  out- 


82  LOVE    IN    ART. 

line,  modelling,  atmosphere,  and  distance 
are  all  perfect."  The  purity  and  tender- 
ness of  Antiope's  flesh  is  here  thrown 
into  strong  relief  by  the  weather-beaten 
ruggedness  of  Jupiter.  It  seems  as  if 
brush  could  never  achieve  such  modelling 
and  color.  To  remember  that  Titian 
painted  this  when  he  was  over  eighty, 
makes  it  all  the  more  astounding. 

The  Three  Ages,  in  Lord  Ellesmere's 
collection,  and  the  picture  of  the  Warrior 
Davolos  parting  from  his  wife,  are  fancies 
from  Titian's  brain,  and  are  both  world- 
renowned. 

Perhaps  less  sensuous,  and  in  most 
respects  fully  as  beautiful,  are  Correggic's 
Jupiter  and  Antiope,  Leda,  Danae,  and 
Jupiter  and  lo. 

The  Jupiter  and  Antiope,  in  the 
Louvre,  has  a  little  Cupid  asleep  at  the 
side  of  the  sleeping  maid,  while  Jupiter, 
in  the  guise  of  a  satyr,  stands  by  gazing 


MYTHS    AND    FANCIES.  83 

with  intense  admiration.  The  flesh  tones 
under  the  play  of  the  sunlight  are  daz- 
zlingly  beautiful,  the  darker  heaviness  of 
Jupiter  serving  as  foil  to  the  exquisite 
delicacy  of  Antiope  and  Cupid.  But  the 
awkward  position  of  Antiope,  the  poor 
placing  of  all  the  figures,  show  how  little 
care  Correggio  had  for  grand  lines  in 
composition. 

His  Jupiter  and  lo,  however,  is  as  per- 
fect in  line  as  It  is  in  color,  chiaroscuro, 
and  feeling.  Anything  more  beautiful 
than  the  curving  sweep  of  the  line  from 
lo's  lovely  chin  to  the  arching  instep  of 
her  left  foot,  as  she  sits  clasped  in  Jupi- 
ter's arms,  is  hard  to  imagine.  The 
massing  of  light  and  shadow,  too,  is 
superb,  the  way  the  light  is  focused  on 
the  beautiful  back  of  lo  against  the  sur- 
rounding gloom,  being  especially  effect- 
ive. This  painting  is  in  Vienna. 

At  the  Borghese  is  his   Danae.     The 


84  LOVE    IN    ART. 

maid  is  half  raised  on  a  couch,  and  at  her 
feet  the  figure  of  Love  holds  out  a  gold 
piece.  Below,  at  the  side  of  the  couch, 
are  two  Cupids  busily  writing.  These 
are  well  known  as  a  detail,  and  are 
charmingly  and  tenderly  drawn. 

Correggio's  Leda  shows  her  sitting 
against  a  tree  in  the  midst  of  several 
other  nymphs.  The  chiaroscuro  is  lovely, 
Leda's  face  and  figure  captivating.  The 
picture  is  in  the  Dresden  gallery. 

Paul  Veronese's  Danae,  in  the  Royal 
Gallery  at  Turin,  differs  essentially  from 
both  Titian's  and  Correggio's.  The  girl, 
whose  figure  is  somewhat  heavy,  is  half 
hiding  behind  a  curtain.  About  her  is  a 
gauzy,  striped  drapery  held  by  a  jewelled 
belt,  and  upon  her  arms  is  a  bracelet. 
The  shadow  down  her  back  is  beautiful, 
her  feet  are  delightfully  drawn  and 
modelled,  and  the  flesh  is  pure  and  clear. 
But  altogether  the  picture  is  not  so  pleas- 


MYTHS    AND    FANCIES.  / 

ing  as  other  works  by  Veronese.  It 
suggests,  too,  less  of  myth  and  more  of 
nature. 

Bacchus  and  Ariadne,  one  of  Tinto- 
retto's masterpieces,  hangs  in  the  Ducal 
Palace  at  Venice.  Here  are  shown  both 
the  faults  and  the  charms  of  this  painter, 
who  lived  to  see  all  the  great  lights  of 
the  Renaissance  one  by  one  die  out. 
Ariadne  sits  on  a  curtain-draped  mound 
rising  out  of  the  sea,  while  Bacchus  has 
waded  through  the  water  to  her  side  and 
is  holding  out  the  ring.  The  floating 
goddess  above  their  heads  places  a  crown 
of  stars  upon  Ariadne's  brow,  at  the  same 
time  lifting  Ariadne's  left  hand  to  Bac- 
chus for  the  wedding  ring.  The  figures 
are  loosely  constructed,  the  heads  de- 
cidedly commonplace;  but  the  wonderful 
color,  astounding  management  of  light 
and  shade,  and  charming  movement,  have 
never  been  more  superbly  rendered,  and 


88  LOVE    IN    ART. 

the  canvas  deserves  all  the  lavish  praise 
the  years  have  brought  it. 

His  Minerva  Driving  away  Mars,  also 
in  the  Ducal  Palace,  has  the  same  general 
characteristics,  but  is  more  crowded  in 
composition  and  is  less  interesting  as  a 
whole. 

After  Tintoretto  come  Ludovici  and 
Annibale  Caracci.  In  the  Farnesina  are 
their  Jupiter  and  Juno,  where  the  fickle 
god  seems  for  the  nonce  to  be  making 
love  to  his  legal  spouse  ;  and  the  Diana 
Embracing  the  Sleeping  Endymion.  The 
Caracci  were  talented  draughtsmen,  but 
the  decadence  is  more  than  hinted  at  in 
their  work. 

Of  still  later  date  are  Albani's  Apollo 
and  Daphne,  in  the  Louvre ;  Guido  Reni's 
Bacchus  and  Ariadne  and  Andromeda,  in 
Rome ;  Guercino's  Sleeping  Endymion  in 
the  Uffizi ;  Domenichino's  Perseus  and 
Andromeda  in  the  Farnesina  and  his 


MYTHS   AND    FANCIES.  89 

Pursuit  of  Love  in  the  Castle  of  Bassano. 
All  of  these  are  interesting  and  often  thor- 
oughly charming  works,  with  drawing  and 
coloring  both  generally  pleasing.  Yet 
they  fall  so  far  from  the  great  standard 
set  by  the  men  born  in  the  fullness  of 
time,  that  their  beauties  are  in  conse- 
quence frequently  overlooked. 

One  of  the  most  noted  masters  of  the 
Venetian  school  before  Tiepolo  was  An- 
tonio Belucci.  His  drawing  was  vigor- 
ous and  of  exquisite  line,  his  coloring 
pure,  his  compositions  original  and  spir- 
ited. One  of  the  most  noted  of  his 
works  is  the  Cupid  and  Psyche  in 
Munich.  Psyche,  with  a  lamp  in  one 
hand  and  a  dagger  in  the  other,  is  start- 
ing back  in  terror  as  she  gazes  upon  the 
beautiful  face  and  form  of  Cupid,  whom 
she  might  have  killed.  The  line  and 
modelling  of  the  youthful  god  are  well- 
nigh  perfect.  His  whole  figure,  in  its 


9O  LOVE    IN    ART. 

supple  strength,  is  a  really  ideal  creation. 
Belucci  proves  himself  a  master,  too,  in 
the  management  of  chiaroscuro.  Psyche's 
lamp  throws  Cupid's  head  and  part  of  his 
torso  into  a  forced  light,  while  a  delicious 
shadow  sweeps  over  the  rest  of  his  grace- 
ful form.  The  canvas  is  one  of  real  and 
unusual  charm. 

A  love  scene  was  Rubens's  delight.  His 
brush  fairly  revelled  in  the  chance  to  paint 
blooming,  luxurious  flesh,  excessive,  riot- 
ous movement.  Many  of  his  canvases 
seem  to  our  taste  decidedly  vulgar  and 
voluptuous,  but  they  are  stamped  by  a 
vigorous  individuality,  fertile  imagination, 
and  a  magnificent,  if  somewhat  strained, 
feeling  for  the  composition  of  line  and 
mass.  In  his  Kermesse,  in  the  Louvre, 
the  Feast  of  Venus,  in  Vienna,  and  the 
Garden  of  Love,  in  Dresden,  the  very 
worst  of  his  wanton,  sensual  side  is  flam- 
ingly  apparent.  Crowded  with  figures 


MYTHS    AND    FANCIES.  93 

twisting,  turning,  bending,  lolling  at  full 
length  or  doubled  into  all  sorts  of  contor- 
tions, the  massing  is  always  fine  if  over- 
elaborate.  The  Cupids,  which  Rubens 
sprinkled  with  a  liberal  hand  wherever 
sense  or  nonsense  could  expect  them, 
are  all  lovely.  No  one  has  drawn  chubby, 
roguish,  little  Loves  with  a  surer  hand  or 
a  gayer  sympathy. 

In  the  Munich  gallery  is  his  Castor 
and  Pollux,  who  are  carrying  off  Hilsera 
and  Phoebe,  daughters  of  Leucippus.  The 
horses  are  wonderfully  drawn,  and  the 
action  is  spirited.  His  Perseus  and  An- 
dromeda, in  the  Berlin  gallery,  and  at  the 
Prado,  in  Madrid,  Venus  and  Adonis,  in 
the  Uffizi,  and  Cimon  and  Iphigenia,  in 
the  Belvedere  of  Vienna,  are  other  well- 
known  characteristic  scenes. 

Poussin,  the  Frenchman  who  lived  and 
worked  mostly  in  Italy,  also  painted  many 
classic  love  episodes.  Much  more  quiet 


94  LOVE    IN    ART. 

and  reserved  than  Rubens,  he  lacked,  too, 
something  of  the  other's  life,  vigor,  and 
color.  In  the  Louvre  are  two  of  his 
more  important  works :  Apollo  in  Love 
with  Daphne,  and  Orpheus  and  Eurydice  ; 
at  the  Cherbourg  Museum  is  Pyramus 
and  Thisbe,  and  in  Rome  is  his  Bacchus 
and  Ariadne. 

Van  Dyck's  living  color,  power  of 
characterization,  and  fine  drawing  were 
displayed,  as  has  been  said,  principally 
in  portraiture.  Several  love  stories  in 
color  belong  to  him,  however,  among 
which  are  Diana  Bending  over  the  Sleep- 
ing Endymion,  in  Madrid;  Danae,  at 
Dresden ;  and  Cupid  and  Psyche,  — 
probably  his  last  work,  and  which  is 
now  at  Hampton  Court. 

Though  Rembrandt,  the  great  naturalist, 
seldom  entered  the  fields  of  mythical  love, 
his  own  mind  suggested  themes  as  full  of 
delicate  fancy  and  suggestion.  In  St. 


MYTHS    AND    FANCIES.  95 

Petersburg  is  his  Young  Fiance'e,  a 
flower-crowned  maid  with  drapery  crossed 
over  her  breast,  her  figure  in  profile,  her 
head  turned  till  it  is  nearly  full-faced. 
Her  hair  falls  back  into  the  deep  shadow 
behind  her,  her  eyes  look  out  with  a  wist- 
ful, questioning  expression.  Nothing  could 
be  more  simply  stated,  but  the  wondering, 
half  fearful,  half  glad  feelings  of  the  girl 
about  to  wed  are  as  vividly  told  as  if  we 
read  the  words  beneath. 

Amsterdam  has  his  Jewish  Bride,  some- 
what suggestive  of  the  Young  Fiancee ;  in 
this  picture  the  youthful  husband  stands 
beside  her,  one  hand  on  her  shoulder,  the 
other  at  her  waist  in  front,  while  her  hand 
rests  on  his.  As  in  the  other  work,  the 
hands  are  beautifully  drawn  and  modelled. 
These  are  more  truly  love  stories,  our 
modern  taste  decides,  than  any  that 
Titian  told  of  god  and  goddess. 


CHAPTER  V. 

PAINTERS'  LOVES. 

|HE  old  stories  of  the  loves  of 
god  and  goddess  have  a  peren- 
nial charm,  whether  told  by  pen, 
brush,  or  chisel;  the  imaginary  loves  of 
imaginary  people  are  still  a  fertile  subject 
for  poet  and  painter,  and,  well  told,  never 
fail  to  find  willing  audience ;  but  tran- 
scending in  interest  the  most  fascinating 
romance  are  the  real  love  stories  of  real 
people.  When  these  are  the  great  ones 
of  the  earth,  the  interest  attaching  to  their 
heart  histories  is  even  more  intense. 

Painters   and   sculptors,   no    less   than 
poets   and   musicians,  have  a  naive  way 
of  taking  the  world  into  their  confidence. 
96 


PAINTERS'  LOVES.  97 

Often,  to  be  sure,  the  world  is  deaf  and 
blind,  and  cannot  understand.  The  poem 
is  seldom  suspected  to  be  the  cry  of  the 
poet's  own  heart;  the  song  is  sung  with 
little  of  the  composer's  meaning;  the 
beautiful  face  looks  from  the  canvas 
with  eyes  into  which  the  painter-lover 
painted  his  soul,  and  the  world  at  large 
calls  it  merely  a  beautiful  girl.  In  after 
years,  when  the  biographies  are  written, 
the  true  meaning  of  these  expressions 
of  the  artist  heart  is  sometimes  known. 
Yet  how  often  it  must  happen  that  the 
real  inspiration  for  many  rare  works  of 
art  is  never  dreamed  of. 

This  is,  perhaps,  especially  true  of  the 
plastic  arts.  It  is,  at  least,  difficult  for  us 
at  this  late  day  to  know  with  much  cer- 
tainty the  particulars  of  the  lives  of  the 
artists  of  past  centuries.  Hundreds  of 
pictures  on  the  walls  of  church,  palace, 
and  gallery  are  to  us  simply  sweet-faced 


98  LOVE    IN    ART. 

Madonnas,  saints,  and  angels.  Yet  is  it 
not  probable  that  to  their  painters  they 
were  the  mirrored  faces  of  loved  women  ? 
In  some  cases  we  know  this  to  be  true, 
and  in  others  tradition  makes  us  more 
than  suspect  it.  Tradition,  however,  fre- 
quently misinterprets,  and  sometimes 
falsifies.  Doubtless,  tradition  is  responsi- 
ble for  many  more  scandalous  than 
righteous  tales. 

It  is  only  lately,  for  instance,  that 
poor  Fra  Filippo  Lippi's  name  has  been 
cleared  from  a  base  story  believed  ever 
since  Vasari's  time.  Every  one  knows 
how  this  painter-monk  carried  off  Lu- 
crezia  Buti,  the  young  novitiate,  and  how 
she  refused  to  leave  him,  or  he  to  give  her 
up.  Until  very  recently  the  title  of  "  Mis- 
tress" was  the  only  one  bestowed  upon 
her,  while  it  was  told  of  Filippo  that  he 
refused  the  Pope's  permission  to  marry 
her,  preferring  to  be  free  to  follow  the 


PAINTERS'  LOVES.  99 

dictates  of  a  dissolute  nature.  Old  docu- 
ments have  been  unearthed,  and  now  it  is 
proved  that  the  monk  gave  up  his  eccle- 
siastical revenues,  and  remained  poor  all 
his  life,  that  he  might  marry  the  girl  whose 
face  had  captivated  him. 

We  have  a  very  fair  idea  how  this  face 
looked.  In  all  the  principal  works  of  her 
husband,  Lucrezia's  big,  innocent  eyes, 
wide,  childlike  forehead,  piquant  nose, 
and  tender  mouth  have  been  immortal- 
ized. Most  of  his  Madonnas  are  por- 
traits of  her;  particularly,  perhaps,  the 
one  in  the  Louvre,  in  which  are  two 
priests  and  six  angels;  those  of  his  fres- 
coes at  Prato,  and  the  ones  in  the  Pitti 
and  Uffizi.  His  Gradino  in  the  Comunal 
Gallery  of  Prato,  consisting  of  the  Pres- 
entation in  the  Temple,  the  Adoration  of 
the  Magi,  and  the  Slaughter  of  the  Inno- 
cents, is  thought  to  be  the  work  he 
painted  when  he  first  induced  the  nuns 


100  LOVE    IN    ART. 

to  let  the  young  girl  sit  as  model  for  the 
Virgin. 

There  is  a  grace,  a  naturalness,  and  a 
charm  of  color  in  all  Filippo's  work.  He 
was  the  first  to  give  the  Madonna  a  tender 
earthliness,  that,  while  it  made  her  more 
human,  did  not  detract  from  the  exquisite 
purity  of  her  face.  It  would  seem  as  if 
these  child-mothers  might  have  been 
proof  enough,  without  the  resurrected 
papers,  that  the  girl  who  posed  for  them 
was  the  well  and  faithfully  beloved  of  the 
forsworn  monk. 

Not  much  is  known  of  the  wife  of 
Perugino,  Raphael's  teacher.  It  is  said, 
however,  that  the  painter's  greed  for  gain 
so  largely  developed  in  his  later  years,  was 
partly  caused  by  his  desire  to  dress  Donna 
Perugino  in  the  height  of  fashion.  Vasari 
states  that  he  even  personally  superin- 
tended the  making  and  placing  of  her 
elaborate  head-dresses.  She  must  have 


PAINTERS'  LOVES.  101 

had  a  winsome  face,  if  it  is  true  that  she 
was  the  prototype  of  the  Angel  in  Peru- 
gino's  Archangel  Raphael  with  Tobias, 
which  is  in  the  National  Gallery  of  Lon- 
don. The  painter  was  not  to  be  blamed 
if  he  spent  much  time  and  thought  in 
adorning  it. 

What  kind  of  a  woman  could  attract 
and  hold  a  nature  like  Leonardo  da 
Vinci's?  Engineer,  mechanician,  musi- 
cian, painter,  sculptor,  poet,  —  every 
phase  of  life  and  knowledge  found  some 
expression  in  this  man,  whose  like  has 
never  lived.  When  it  is  remembered 
that  many  of  the  problems  he  pro- 
pounded have  never  yet  been  solved ; 
that  his  rules,  measures,  designs  for  aque- 
duct, bridge,  road,  and  city  foundations 
are  still  in  advance  of  time ;  that  his  vol- 
umes of  writings  are  too  voluminous  for 
complete  translation;  and  that  with  all 
the  rest  of  his  vast  knowledge  and 


102  LOVE    IN    ART. 

achievements  he  painted  a  Last  Supper 
and  a  woman's  face,  which  the  world 
still  sighs  in  vain  to  surpass, — the  brain 
refuses  to  photograph  the  personality 
of  so  complex  and  profound  a  genius. 
Whom,  among  women,  could  such  a  man 
have  loved? 

In  the  Louvre  hangs  the  portrait  of 
the  wife  of  Giovanni  del  Giocond,  known 
to  the  world  as  La  Joconde,  and  Leo- 
nardo's Monna  Lisa.  Though  time  has 
dulled  the  once  marvellous  tones  of 
face  and  hands,  the  power  and  fascina- 
tion of  that  inscrutable,  beautiful  coun- 
tenance, the  grace  and  suggestiveness 
of  those  exquisite  hands,  are  as  apparent 
as  they  were  nearly  four  hundred  years 
ago.  We  do  not  know  positively  that 
Leonardo  loved  her.  Tradition  asserts 
that  he  did,  and  at  least  it  is  true  that 
for  four  years  he  worked  upon  the  like- 
ness; nor  would  he  sell  it  to  any  one 


DA  VINCI.  —  MONNA  LISA. 


PAINTERS     LOVES.  1 05 

till,  almost  at  a  command,  he  parted 
from  it  to  the  French  king  for  the  sum 
of  three  thousand  golden  crowns. 

Perhaps  the  fair  woman  never  dreamed 
of  the  feelings  she  inspired  in  the  pas- 
sionate breast  of  the  great  genius.  Or 
perhaps  her  subtle,  untranslatable  smile 
hints  otherwise.  Did  she  know  and  taunt 
him  with  it  ?  Or,  with  a  mind  akin  to  the 
painter's  own,  does  the  smile  mean  that 
she  saw  over  and  beyond  and  behind  the 
passion,  and  found  it  too  tragic  for  words 
or  tears  ? 

When  Raphael  died  he  was  betrothed 
to  Marie  Bibbieni,  and  in  the  Pitti  is  the 
portrait  he  painted  of  her.  Although  the 
portrait  is  interesting  as  showing  the  kind 
of  woman  he  could  consent  to  marry,  it  is 
not  his  greatest  work,  nor  does  one  feel 
any  special  charm  of  personality  in  the 
rather  heavy  face.  To  tell  the  truth, 
however,  the  portrait  called  the  Forna- 


IO6  LOVE    IN    ART. 

rina,  in  the  Barbarini  Gallery  at  Rome, 
is  not  much  more  attractive.  Yet  very 
creditable  report  affirms  that  she  was 
the  woman  who  ensnared  the  heart  of 
the  young  painter,  and  that  even  in  his 
will  he  remembered  her  generously.  He 
was  so  fond  of  her,  according  to  rumor, 
that,  while  he  was  at  work  on  the  Far- 
nesina,  he  domiciled  her  near  by  that  he 
might  see  her  daily.  She  is  supposed 
to  be  the  model  for  goddess  and  nymph 
in  those  wonderful  frescoes  and  for 
several  of  his  later  Madonnas. 

As  Andrea  del  Sarto  was  the  teacher 
of  Vasari,  the  latter's  account  of  his 
master's  household  affairs  should  be 
trustworthy.  The  tale  Vasari  tells  of 
Del  Sarto's  wife  is  not  a  happy  one. 
She  was,  to  put  it  mildly,  very  much  of 
a  termagant,  and  her  husband,  no  less 
than  others  who  came  in  contact  with 
her,  suffered  from  her  unruly  nature. 


RAPHAEL.  —  THE  FORNARIXA. 


PAINTERS     LOVES.  1 09 

Yet,  says  Vasari,  Andrea  never  com- 
plained, but  counted  it  great  happiness 
to  be  thus  tortured  by  his  fair-faced 
wife ;  by  which,  after  all,  we  may  sus- 
pect that  there  was  something  better 
in  the  wife  than  Vasari  knew.  Surely, 
judging  from  the  many  portraits  of  her 
by  the  husband  who  loved  her  till  death, 
she  must  have  been  more  than  a  selfish 
scold. 

The  Lady  with  a  Petrarch  in  her 
hands,  at  Madrid,  has  been  well  called 
one  of  the  world's  great  portraits.  This 
is  partly  because  of  the  marvellous  skill 
of  the  painter,  but  partly,  too,  it  is 
because  of  the  personality  of  the  sub- 
ject. Portrait  of  a  Lady  indeed !  The 
calm  distinction  of  the  brow,  the  quiet, 
reposeful  air,  the  tender  mouth  and 
chin,  —  could  this  face  have  belonged  to 
a  woman  such  as  Vasari  describes  Del 
Sarto's  wife  to  be? 


I  IO  LOVE    IN    ART. 

Another  beautiful  portrait  of  her  is 
his  Madonna  of  the  Harpies,  the  great- 
est of  Del  Sarto's  Madonnas.  This  pic- 
ture hangs  in  the  Louvre,  testifying 
with  no  uncertain  voice  to  the  love  the 
painter  bore  his  wife.  Standing  upon  a 
pedestal  supported  by  two  boy  angels, 
the  Madonna  holds  the  Christ-child  on 
her  right  arm,  with  St.  Francis  and 
St.  John  on  either  side  of  her.  Her 
eyes  are  downcast,  her  dark  hair  rolls 
softly  back  from  her  forehead,  which  is 
higher  at  the  temples  than  elsewhere, 
her  mouth  curves  exquisitely,  her  hands 
are  fine,  and  full  of  feeling.  The  com- 
position as  a  whole  is  one  of  consum- 
mate line  and  mass.  The  drapery  falls 
into  rich,  but  simple  folds ;  the  color 
shows  Andrea  at  his  best;  the  picture 
is  a  masterpiece. 

Not  only  in  this,  but  in  almost  every- 
thing he  painted  can  the  lovable  face  be 


PAINTERS'  LOVES.  1 1 1 

found.  In  his  Birth  of  Mary,  in  the 
Church  of  the  Annunciation  in  Florence, 
she  is  the  standing  figure  in  a  red  gown 
in  the  foreground;  in  Three  Magi  from 
the  East,  in  the  same  building,  she  is 
one  of  the  Magian  Kings.  Also  in  the 
Annunciation  is  his  Madonna  'deTcS!ici&or' 
one  of  his  most  remarkable  works,  pos- 
sessing a  rare  spiritual  quality;  here  she 
is  again  Heaven's  Queen.  She,  too,  is 
his  St.  George;  and  evidently  also  St. 
John,  in  the  Pitti,  with  the  deep,  earnest 
eyes,  bewitching  mouth  and  chin. 

Once  more,  in  the  Pitti,  is  the  noted 
portrait  of  himself  with  an  arm  about 
his  wife's  neck.  Here  her  mouth  seems 
a  trifle  small.  Otherwise  it  is  the  same 
charming  face  into  which  the  adoring 
husband  gazes  with  unhindered  admira- 
tion. No,  —  in  spite  of  Vasari,  Donna 
del  Sarto  could  not  have  been  wholly 
bad  or  unloving. 


112  LOVE    IN    ART. 

The  very  power  and  originality  of  any 
great  genius  isolate  him  from  his  fellow 
beings.  Yet,  probably  there  are  few, 
however  far  beyond  their  world  intellectu- 
ally and  spiritually,  but  long  at  times 
for  intimate  human  companionship.  It 
is  seldom  that  this  longing  finds  its  per- 
fect fulfilment  in  the  wedded  life.  Des- 
perate for  some  personal  tenderness,  they 
bind  themselves  to  the  first  pretty,  shal- 
low woman  whose  big  baby  eyes  and 
curving  rose-leaf  lips  look  the  sympathy 
their  brain  cannot  supply.  Whether,  on 
the  whole,  they  are  afterwards  unhappier 
than  the  ones  who  go  sternly  unmated 
through  life,  who  can  tell? 

Until  he  was  sixty  years  old,  Michael 
Angelo  stood  unapproachable,  alone 
upon  the  lofty  summit  of  Fame,  with 
no  woman  at  his  side  to  understand  his 
longings  and  aspirations.  From  then, 
till  her  death,  fifteen  years  later,  all  the 


MICHAEL  ANGELO.  —  VITTORIA  COLONNA. 


PAINTERS     LOVES.  I  1 5 

pent  up  devotion  of  a  singularly  solitary 
lifetime  were  given  to  Vittoria  Colonna. 
So  much  has  been  written  of  the  ele- 
vated affection  between  these  two  rare 
natures  that  it  is  unnecessary  to  enlarge 
upon  it  now. 

One  of  the  two  portraits  Michael 
Angelo  ever  painted  was  of  this  noble 
lady.  Only  his  crayon  sketch  of  it 
remains,  but  it  is  enough  to  give  us  a  fair 
idea  of  the  woman  who  was  worshipped 
by  one  of  the  greatest  men  the  world  has 
known.  Nowhere  in  his  works  is  there 
any  indication  that  Michael  Angelo  ever 
cared  much  for  girlish  loveliness.  The 
outline  drawing  in  the  Uffizi  is  the  profile 
of  a  woman  mature  enough  to  be  sure  of 
herself,  whose  gracious,  nobly  poised 
head,  large  eye,  and  sensitive,  mobile 
mouth  indicate  calmness  and  strength, 
verve  and  fire,  pride  and  purity,  —  the 
sort  of  face,  in  fact,  capable  of  holding 


Il6  LOVE    IN    ART. 

forever  the  love  of  any  man  great  enough 
to  appreciate  her. 

In  the  Ducal  Palace  in  Venice  hangs 
the  portrait  group  of  Veronese's  family. 
The  elaborately  dressed  woman  on  the 
left  is  his  wife.  If  we  think  rather  of  the 
magnificence  of  her  clothes  and  jewels 
than  of  the  charm  or  intelligence  of  her 
face,  we  must  remember  that  she  was  of 
the  end  of  the  sixteenth  century  in 
Venice.  That  was  when  sumptuousness 
of  color,  and  overdone  richness  in  every 
detail  of  life,  were  the  order  of  the  day. 
Judging  by  the  riotous  splendor  of  much 
of  Veronese's  painting,  it  was  the  very 
thing  he  cared  for  most;  it  is  logical  to 
suppose  that  he  and  the  none  too  slender, 
full-faced  Venetian  matron  were  well 
suited  to  each  other. 

An  excellent  artist  was  Quentin 
Metsys,  who  was  born  in  Antwerp  in 
1466,  and  became  a  painter  for  love  of 


PAINTERS     LOVES.  1 1  7 

a  woman.  He  was  twenty  years  old,  and 
a  blacksmith,  when  he  fell  desperately  in 
love  with  the  daughter  of  an  artist.  She 
should  wed  only  an  artist,  vowed  her 
father.  Quentin,  no  wise  daunted, 
changed  his  anvil  for  a  palette,  his 
hammer  for  a  brush,  and,  in  the  course  of 
a  year  or  two,  proved  to  the  irate  father 
that  he  could  be  a  son-in-law  worthy  of 
even  his  esteem. 

The  portrait  of  Metsy's  wife,  painted 
by  his  loving  hands,  hangs  now  in  the 
Uffizi.  It  is  a  tender,  sweet-faced  girl, 
lovable  rather  than  beautiful,  with  a 
heavy,  white,  nun-like  head-dress.  A 
rosary  falls  over  perfect  hands,  which  are 
drawn  with  extreme  care ;  the  finger  nails 
exquisite  in  shape,  with  two  heavy  rings 
on  the  forefinger  of  the  left  hand.  Her 
eyes  are  large  and  dark,  her  chin  daintily 
constructed.  A  bit  of  still  life  is  on  a 
shelf  behind  her,  clouds  are  seen  in  the 


IlS  LOVE    IN    ART. 

sky,  through  the  open  window.  The  face 
is  happy  and  peaceful. 

The  great  Spanish  painters,  Velasquez 
and  Murillo,  are  said  to  have  had  quiet, 
happy,  domestic  lives.  In  the  Prado  is 
Velasquez's  portrait  of  his  wife,  whom  he 
married  young,  and  always  loved.  She  is 
in  profile,  with  regular,  almost  perfect 
features,  a  quantity  of  soft,  dark  hair, 
large  deep  eye  under  a  beautifully  curved, 
but  heavy  eyebrow.  It  is  a  lovely,  inter- 
esting face,  and  is  a  technical  triumph  of 
this  magician  of  the  brush. 

No  known  portrait  exists  of  Murillo's 
wife,  but  she  is  reported  to  have  posed 
for  many  of  his  sweet-faced  Madonnas. 

Rubens  married  twice,  and  to  each 
wife,  according  to  trustworthy  accounts, 
he  was  a  devoted,  affectionate  husband. 
He  made  frequent  portraits  of  them,  and 
they  are  the  models  for  many  faces  in  his 
classic  and  religious  pictures.  One  por- 


ffifc. 


RUBENS.  —  RUBENS'S  WIFE  AND  CHILDREN. 


PAINTERS     LOVES.  121 

trait  of  his  first  wife,  Isabel  Brandt,  is  in 
Berlin,  and  shows  an  earnest,  thoughtful 
woman  with  finely  cut  features. 

His  second  wife  was  a  niece  of  his  first, 
and  was  only  eighteen  when  Rubens,  then 
past  fifty,  married  her.  One  of  the  most 
interesting  portraits  of  her  is  in  the 
Louvre,  where  she  holds  their  little  boy 
upon  her  lap  while  the  small  daughter  is 
at  her  knee.  The  girl-wife's  face  is  too 
full  and  wide,  and  the  features  too  irreg- 
ular for  beauty,  but  she  has  a  gentle, 
attractive  expression,  and  her  hands  and 
arms  are  wonderfully  lovely.  In  general 
it  may  be  said  that  Rubens's  portraits  of 
his  wives  are  in  his  more  simple  style,  and 
are  justly  ranked  among  his  best  works. 

Van  Dyck's  numerous  love  affairs 
probably  prevented  his  caring  much  for 
any  one  woman.  Court  painter  for  one 
of  the  most  dissolute  reigns  in  England, 
the  young  artist  lived  faster  and  more 


122  LOVE    IN    ART. 

luxuriously  than  many  of  the  wealthiest 
and  most  reckless  nobles.  He  had  num- 
bers of  mistresses,  and  imagined  himself 
in  love  with  many  other  women. 

A  portrait  of  Margaret  Lemon,  who 
tried  to  cut  the  cords  of  his  right  wrist 
when  he  finally  married,  is  at  Althorp, 
and  he  also  painted  her  as  Judith. 
Another  portrait  of  her  at  Hampton 
Court  is  a  grand  Titianesque  work,  and 
proves  her  to  have  been  very  beautiful. 

When,  finally,  at  the  king's  command, 
he  married  Maria  Ruthven,  he  gave  up 
for  the  one  remaining  year  of  his  life  his 
previous  immoral  existence.  The  picture 
of  her  at  Munich  is  a  matchless  example 
of  Van  Dyck's  art.  She  is  a  very  lovely 
girl,  as  she  sits  holding  her  cello,  and  it 
seems  as  if  the  fickle  painter  must  have 
cared  for  her  as  much  as  he  could  for 
any  one. 

Saskia,  the  wife  of  Rembrandt's  youth, 


VAN  DYCK.  —  MARIA  RUTHVEN. 


PAINTERS     LOVES.  125 

the  woman  whose  face  he  repeated  on 
canvas  after  canvas,  in  etching  after  etch- 
ing, must  have  been  a  merry-hearted,  petite 
body,  with  a  winsomeness  more  attractive 
than  greater  beauty.  Of  the  many  por- 
traits which  exist  of  her,  perhaps  the 
one  at  Cassel  best  portrays  the  flower- 
like  delicacy  of  her  face. 

Then  there  is  the  one  in  Dresden  with 
a  blossom  in  her  hand.  The  best  known 
is  also  at  Dresden,  where  she  sits  on  Rem- 
brandt's knee,  both  faces  full  of  laughter 
as  he  holds  a  long  Venetian  glass  of  beer 
above  her  head.  The  whole  painting  is 
mostly  in  the  rich  brown  tones  Rembrandt 
loved  so  well,  Saskia's  dress  of  varying 
green  and  reds  making  the  one  contrast. 
Over  her  hair  is  a  golden  network  of  lace, 
which  falls  among  her  auburn  tresses,  some 
of  whose  dainty  ringlets  escape  on  to  her 
forehead  and  neck.  There  is  a  feeling  of 
unconstraint,  perhaps  of  almost  too  much 


126  LOVE    IN    ART. 

freedom,  in  the  picture.  The  gaiety  is  so 
spontaneous,  however,  that  one  can  only 
smile  in  sympathy.  The  Northern  painter, 
who  loved  the  mysteries  of  light  and  shade, 
as  perhaps  has  none  since  Leonardo,  gave 
a  very  human  touch  to  all  he  did,  and  it  is 
never  more  evident  than  in  this  bit  of 
marital  felicity. 


WIFE. 


PART  III. 

MODERN   ART. 


129 


CHAPTER  VI. 

THE  GODDESS  OF  LOVE  AND  HER  SON. 

IHEN  an  artist  of  the  Renaissance 
portrayed  a  nude  woman,  he  called 
her  Venus.  Whether  there  was 
any  suggestion  of  the  outlines  and  model- 
ling appropriate  to  the  classic  Queen  of 
Love  made  no  difference.  Venus  was 
represented  nude,  and,  conversely,  any 
nude  woman  was  Venus. 

Artists  of  to-day,  especially  in  France 
and  America,  often  as  they  depict  the 
undraped  figure,  seldom  produce  a 
Venus.  Exquisite  feminine  forms, 
charming  outlines,  pose,  and  color,  are 
simply  labelled  "Studies."  This  is  no 
doubt  partly  due  to  the  fact  that,  par- 


132  LOVE    IN   ART. 

ticularly  in  these  two  countries,  the  plas- 
tic arts  are  regarded  more  from  the  artistic 
and  less  from  the  literary  point  of  view. 
There  is  a  growing  inclination  to  accept 
and  judge  a  picture  for  what  it  says  in  its 
own  language,  instead  of  questioning  its 
story-telling  quality. 

At  the  first  exhibition  of  Ten  American 
Artists,  Mr.  Joseph  DeCamp's  chief  canvas 
was  a  nude  woman,  sitting  in  profile,  her 
head  on  her  hands,  her  beautiful  auburn 
hair  falling  over  her  face  and  arms.  The 
color  and  tone  of  the  flesh,  especially  of 
the  wonderfully  modelled  back,  were  rarely 
exquisite.  Titian  would  have  called  the 
picture  Venus.  Mr.  DeCamp  gave  it  no 
such  name.  Yet,  who  cared  ?  The  charm 
of  the  figure  was  not  lessened  by  the  lack 
of  a  suggestive  title. 

This  is  merely  as  illustration  of  the  ten- 
dency of  to-day's  art.  It  is  not  universally 
true.  Many  Venuses  and  Cupids  have 


CUPID    WITH    A    BOW. 
From  painting  by  Marc  Antonio  Franceschini. 


GODDESS  OF  LOVE  AND  HER  SON.   135 

been  painted  and  chiselled  since  the  Re- 
naissance, and  will  undoubtedly  continue 
to  be,  so  long  as  the  symbols  of  love  have 
any  meaning. 

One  of  the  leading  artists  in  Italy  at 
the  beginning  of  the  eighteenth  century 
was  Marc  Antonio  Franceschini,  notable 
both  for  his  color  and  draughtsmanship. 
In  the  Uffizi  is  a  delightful  composition  by 
him,  Cupid  with  a  Bow.  The  abounding 
life  in  the  beautiful  boy,  and  his  roguish, 
irresponsible  nature  are  shown  with  much 
skill  and  sympathy.  The  work  is  full  of 
the  light-hearted  joy  of  Arcadia. 

Franceschini,  who  was  often  called  Vol- 
teranno,  also  painted  the  Sleeping  Cupid 
now  in  the  Pitti.  He  lies  in  the  woods, 
his  head  on  his  arm,  one  chubby  hand  by 
his  face,  the  other  holding  the  bit  of  dra- 
pery below  his  breast,  his  wavy  hair  falling 
in  tumbled  confusion  about  his  face  and 
.neck.  A  shadow,  as  if  from  the  wings  of 


136  LOVE    IN    ART. 

sleep,  falls  over  his  face,  and  bears  his  eye- 
lids down,  though  his  lips  still  curve  with 
a  true  "  Cupid  "  smile. 

Canova,  the  prince  of  modern  Italian 
sculptors,  whose  chisel  has  all  the  cunning 
and  much  of  the  spirit  of  the  greater  Re- 
naissance, is  represented  in  the  Louvre  by 
several  statues,  one  of  which  is  his  Venus 
Victorious.  Slightly  draped  below  the 
waist,  she  lies  on  a  couch,  holding  an 
apple  in  her  hand.  The  classically  per- 
fect head  is  a  portrait  of  Pauline  Bor- 
ghese.  Somehow,  lovely  as  the  figure  is, 
it  is  strangely  unsatisfactory.  Perhaps 
it  is  all  a  little  too  perfect,  too  prettily 
faultless. 

His  other  famous  Venus,  a  replica  of 
which  is  in  the  Boston  Public  Library, 
also  stands  in  the  Louvre.  Leaning 
slightly  forward,  drawing  her  drapery  up 
to  her  breast,  she  suggests  in  pose  and 
atmosphere  (if  a  marble  form  can  have 


VOLTERANNO.  —  SLEEPING    CUPID. 


GODDESS  OF  LOVE  AND  HER  SON.   139 

atmosphere)  the  Venus  de'  Medici.  Of 
the  majestic  grace  and  purity  of  the  great 
Melos,  however,  there  is  little. 

A  circular  picture  by  Pelagio  Pelagi, 
called  the  Education  of  Love,  is  well 
known  by  its  reproduction.  Venus  is 
on  her  knees,  holding  a  scroll  in  her 
hands,  while  Cupid  leans  against  her  and 
points  to  the  letters  upon  it.  It  is  prettily 
massed  and  possesses  charm. 

Fran9ois  Boucher  ranks  as  one  of  the 
most  famous  designers  of  France.  His 
works,  however,  are  strongly  saturated 
with  the  frivolity  and  sensuality  of  the 
Paris  of  1740.  As  may  be  guessed, 
Venus  and  Cupid  were  favorite  subjects 
with  him.  Among  a  long  list  are  The 
Birth  of  Venus,  at  Berlin ;  Venus  De- 
manding the  Arms  of  Vulcan,  in  the 
Louvre ;  Venus  and  Adonis,  in  the  Bar- 
ker collection;  Birth  of  Venus,  Venus 
at  her  Toilet,  and  Cupids  and  Flowers, 


140  LOVE    IN    ART. 

all  in  Stockholm.  Charming  in  color 
and  line,  many  of  these  works  breathe  a 
debased  morality  that  to-day  finds  hard 
to  pardon. 

A  Nymph  and  Cupid,  and  a  Venus, 
Bacchus,  and  Cupid,  by  G.  A.  Coypel, 
hang  in  the  Louvre,  and  suggest  a 
Rubensesque  floridity.  In  the  latter  pic- 
ture, Bacchus  and  Cupid,  at  an  elabo- 
rately laid  table,  are  pledging  Venus, 
who  is  above  in  the  clouds.  The  god 
of  wine,  his  head  thrown  back,  laughs 
loudly  as  he  gazes  admiringly  at  the 
goddess,  and  Cupid  smiles  too,  with  a 
knowing  look.  The  drawing  is  striking, 
but  the  scene  is  artificial  to  the  last 
degree. 

Prud'hon,  called  the  Correggio  of 
France,  had  much  of  the  color  and 
wonderful  chiaroscuro  of  the  great  Ital- 
ian, with  little  of  the  sensuality  of 
Boucher  and  Coypel.  Two  of  his  pic- 


GODDESS    OF   LOVE   AND    HER   SON.       14! 

tures,  which  have  brought  large  sums 
since  his  death,  come  under  the  head- 
ing of  this  chapter:  Venus  and  Adonis, 
and  Innocence,  Love,  and  Repentance ; 
his  Cupid  Chastised  is  in  Dublin. 

The  first  president  of  England's  Royal 
Academy,  Sir  Joshua  Reynolds,  followed 
the  custom  of  the  time,  and,  except  when 
he  painted  a  portrait  pure  and  simple, 
tacked  a  more  or  less  sentimental  name 
to  his  canvases.  The  Covent  Garden 
Cupid  and  the  Venus  which  he  be- 
queathed to  the  Earl  of  Upper  Ossory 
are  two  of  his  noted  works.  Others 
are  Venus  Chiding  Cupid  for  Learn- 
ing Arithmetic,  Cupid  as  a  Link  Boy, 
and  Venus  with  a  Piping  Boy.  Every- 
thing that  Sir  Joshua  painted  carries 
with  it  an  air  of  fine  breeding  and  high 
distinction,  coupled,  too,  with  exquisite 
color  and  often  with  more  than  super- 
ficial earnestness.  Besides  the  above 


142  LOVE    IN    ART. 

mentioned  pictures,  which  are  privately 
owned,  is  his  Venus  and  Cupid  in  the 
Hermitage  of  St.  Petersburg. 

If  the  years  have  taken  from  the  glory 
of  Angelica  Kauffman  as  an  artist,  they 
have  in  no  wise  lessened  her  fame  as  a 
brilliant,  remarkable  woman.  Her  pic- 
tures are  well  composed  although  some- 
what commonplace,  her  drawing  correct, 
if  not  distinguished.  Nothing  can  make 
her  color  charming,  however,  and  most 
of  her  work  suggests  the  painstaking 
student  rather  than  the  enthusiastic 
amateur.  Among  a  number  of  her 
paintings  of  Venus  and  Cupid,  are 
Venus  and  Adonis,  and  Cupid  at  Play. 

Full  of  the  spirit  of  true  classicism 
was  the  great  Dane,  Bertel  Thorwald- 
sen,  and  all  his  works  declare  his  love 
and  study  of  the  great  antiques.  One 
of  his  reliefs  of  Venus  and  Cupid  is  as 
simply  and  beautifully  balanced  as  a  true 


GODDESS    OF   LOVE   AND    HER    SON.       143 

Greek  specimen.  Venus  is  sitting  half 
draped,  one  arm  resting  on  the  rock 
behind  her,  with  the  other  on  her  knee, 
holding  off  Cupid's  hand,  who  stands 
pleading  before  her.  The  lines  of  her 
figure  are  noble,  her  hair  is  quietly  mod- 
elled, her  face  with  its  fleeting  smile  is  of 
a  pure  classic  type.  Two  doves  are  kiss- 
ing below  her,  while  a  rose-bush  grows  on 
the  other  side. 

Another  relief  is  a  group  of  gay  little 
Cupids.  One  has  his  arm  about  a  swan's 
neck,  pulling  him  back  for  dear  life.  Two 
other  baby  figures  are  hauling  apples  from 
a  tree  whose  branches  are  reached  by 
one  mite  standing  on  the  other's  back. 
The  grouping  of  all  the  merry  little 
fellows  is  dramatically  perfect,  and  their 
round,  graceful  bodies  are  exquisitely 
modelled. 

Of  the  men  who  are  now  living  and 
working,  or  who  have  so  recently  died 


144  LOVE    IN    ART. 

that  they  may  be  said  to  belong  to  the 
middle  and  close  of  the  nineteenth  cen- 
tury, few  have  devoted  much  time  to 
portraying  the  goddess  of  love  or  her 
erratic  son.  Cabanel,  Hamon,  Picou, 
Perrault,  Gerome,  Millet,  and  Bougue- 
reau,  in  France,  however,  have  all  some- 
thing to  show  under  this  head. 

Cabanel,  the  teacher  of  so  many  promi- 
nent painters  that  he  may  well  be  called 
the  master  of  masters,  painted  a  Birth  of 
Venus  which  ranks  as  one  of  his  greatest 
achievements.  The  loveliness  of  grace, 
color,  and  line  of  this  entrancing  figure 
is  hardly  surpassable.  Baudry's  Pearl 
and  the  Wave,  a  similar  conception,  is 
one  of  the  few  modern  works  which  strike 
a  higher  note. 

Above  the  Venus  numbers  of  bewitch- 
ing Cupids  fly  about,  triumphing  in  her 
birth  and  heralding  her  with  shell  trump- 
ets. The  Venus  herself,  lying  so  easily 


II 

"I 


GODDESS  OF  LOVE  AND  HER  SON.   147 

upon  the  waves,  is  just  waking,  and  with 
one  hand  shields  her  long,  half  open  eyes. 
The  left  arm  is  thrown  back  over  her 
beautiful  golden  hair,  which  floats  on  the 
water  far  below  her  knees.  One  lock  of 
the  gleaming  tresses  strays  tenderly  over 
the  extended  arm  till  the  breeze  catches 
it  and  melts  it  into  the  air  above  and  the 
water  below.  The  figure  is  painted  in 
the  clearest  light,  modelled  by  impercep- 
tible gradations  of  the  most  transparent, 
purest  tones.  When  the  work  was  first 
exhibited  at  the  Salon  it  made  a  great 
sensation,  and  won  for  Cabanel  three 
honors  and  the  decoration  of  the  Legion 
of  Honor.  Since  then  he  has  made  two 
copies  of  it,  both  smaller,  for  Americans. 
The  original  was  sent  to  the  Luxem- 
bourg. 

One  of  the  first  of  the  so-called  neo- 
Grec  school  was  Hamon,  a  painter  of 
great  charm,  fancy,  and  imagination. 


148  LOVE    IN    ART. 

His  Washing  of  Cupids,  where  some  of 
the  little  Loves  are  in  the  water,  some 
already  hung  up  to  dry,  is  one  of  his 
dainty  conceits.  There  is  a  lack  of  color 
about  it,  for  Hamon  delighted  in  silvery 
gray  harmonies  rather  than  in  vivid  tones, 
but  the  drawing  is  so  charmingly  pure 
and  true,  the  whole  composition  so  ethe- 
really frolicsome,  that  there  seems  little 
left  to  desire. 

Allied  to  his  brother  neo-Grec,  is 
Picou,  whose  brush  was  largely  used  to 
paint  delightful  Cupids  in  all  sorts 
of  conditions.  Love  on  the  Penitential 
Stool,  Love  at  Auction,  and  a  Har- 
vest of  Loves  are  some  of  a  long 
list. 

Cupid  Rebellious  and  Sleeping  Love, 
by  L.  Perrault,  are  more  naturalistic  but 
very  attractive  pictures  of  the  Olympic 
boy.  Sleeping  Love  lies  under  the  trees, 
one  hand  up  to  his  face,  the  other  out- 


GODDESS  OF  LOVE  AND  HER  SON.   149 

stretched  over  his  brow.  He  is  a  very 
tired,  sleepy  baby,  with  little  of  the  god 
about  him. 

Before  Millet  began  to  paint  his  poems 
of  peasant  life,  many  charming  mytho- 
logical scenes  came  from  his  hand,  and 
one  of  them  represents  another  sleeping 
Cupid,  infinitely  lovelier,  however,  than 
anything  Perrault  ever  designed.  He  is 
thrown  flat  on  his  back,  his  feet  wide 
apart,  with  both  chubby  arms  above  his 
head.  His  face  is  mostly  in  shadow,  but 
a  delicious  light  under  his  chin  and  on 
his  neck  follows  down  the  lines  of  his 
body.  Beside  him  lies  his  quiver  of 
arrows,  ready  for  use. 

Bouguereau  is  the  artist  of  lovely  line, 
perfect  drawing,  charming  composition, 
whose  mass  and  balance  are  unexcep- 
tionally  fine.  But  his  detractors  say  that 
he  paints  with  a  brush  dipped  in  colors 
too  pretty  for  living,  pulsating  flesh. 


150  LOVE    IN    ART. 

This  is  one  reason  why  photographs  of 
Bouguereau's  works  are  more  satisfactory 
than  the  paintings  themselves. 

In  the  Luxembourg  hangs  his  version 
of  the  Birth  of  Venus.  The  goddess 
stands  on  a  huge  shell,  dressing  her 
hair,  while  in  the  water  about  are  tri- 
tons  and  sea-nymphs  watching  her,  and 
caressing  one  another.  The  shell  barge 
is  drawn  by  a  large  dolphin,  astride  of 
whose  back  is  one  roguish  Cupid,  while 
another,  half  on  him  and  half  in  the 
water,  mischievously  pulls  one  of  his  fins. 
Above  in  the  air  are  more  little  Loves, 
their  figures  perfect,  full  of  life  and 
rhythm.  Venus  herself  is  undoubtedly 
beautiful,  the  lines  of  her  figure  and 
the  curves  of  her  pose  being  almost 
faultless.  Indeed,  one  feels  the  whole 
canvas  to  be  "faultily  faultless,"  —  as  if 
it  would  be  more  a  work  of  genius  if 
genius  were  less  apparent  in  every  inch 


GODDESS    OF    LOVE    AND    HER    SON.       15! 

of  its  lovely,  perfectly  designed  and 
covered  surface. 

Far  below  the  level  of  this  picture  is 
one  by  Kray,  called  Venus  Binding  the 
Wings  of  Love,  where  the  goddess,  hold- 
ing her  son  in  her  arms,  ties  his  wings 
together,  much  to  his  disgust.  Thoroughly 
modern  in  treatment,  there  is  little  in 
the  composition  to  make  it  better  than 
a  "popular"  picture. 

Raphael  Mengs  succeeded  in  producing 
many  such  popular  designs,  but  most  of 
his  have  about  them  besides  something 
that  makes  them  better  worthy  of  praise. 
One  of  his  best  known  works  is  Cupid 
Sharpening  His  Arrow.  The  curly-haired 
boy,  with  his  wings  curving  up  behind, 
his  eyes  and  head  thrown  back,  has 
stopped  for  a  moment's  reconnoitre  be- 
fore he  continues  his  task.  Charm  and 
delicacy,  with  a  captivating  sort  of  mirth, 
make  this  an  attractive  little  study. 


152  LOVE    IN    ART. 

By  Schaus,  another  German  favorite, 
is  Cupid  in  Ambush.  Two  chubby 
little  fellows  are  hiding  behind  thick 
foliage,  watching  through  the  leaves  a 
man  and  maid  beyond,  whose  heads  are 
close  together.  One  Cupid  is  about  to 
let  fly  an  arrow,  and  both  are  laughing 
delightedly. 

Sir  Frederick  Leighton  preferred  to 
paint  actual  love  scenes  rather  than  the 
goddess  of  love  herself,  but  once  at  least 
he  painted  Venus  Disrobing  for  the  Bath, 
now  privately  owned. 

On  June  17,  1898,  occurred  the  death 
of  Sir  Edward  Burne- Jones.  With  the 
exception  of  Rossetti,  he  was  the  most 
radical  of  the  pre-Raphaelites.  The  dil- 
ettante and  the  amateur  have  an  admira- 
tion for  him  bordering  on  worship.  Many 
artists  agree  with  the  public  in  general, 
that  his  long,  often  ill-drawn  women  are 
ugly,  their  faces  peevish,  and  the  lines 


GODDESS  OF  LOVE  AND  HER  SON.   153 

of  his  composition  frequently  too  compli- 
cated and  meaningless.  The  truth  about 
him  is,  probably,  between  these  two 
extremes.  Certainly  some  of  his  pic- 
tures are  beautiful  enough  to  stand 
the  abuse  of  the  present  without  losing 
ground  for  the  future. 

His  Venus's  Looking-glass  is  an  original 
design,  with  fine  lines.  A  row  of  maidens 
are  bending  down  gazing  into  a  pool, 
which  is  straight  across  the  foreground 
and  reflects  their  figures  in  its  surface. 
One  among  them,  in  an  attitude  some- 
thing like  the  Venus  of  Melos,  stands 
upright,  deigning  to  bend  only  her  eyes 
towards  the  glassy  pool  below. 

His  exaggeration  of  pose  and  twisting 
of  drapery  is  shown  plainly  in  Cupid 
Sharpening  His  Arrow.  Cupid  is  a 
lean,  angular  youth  without  joy,  and 
Venus  (who  is  apparently  blowing  the 
fire  for  him)  is  even  less  happily  featured. 


154  LOVE  IN  ART- 

As  has  been  said,  few  American  artists 
produce  Venuses,  though  some  of  their 
beautiful  nude  subjects  might  nobly  bear 
the  title. 

Very  lovely,  but  extremely  modern  in 
treatment,  is  Will  H.  Low's  Love  Dis- 
armed. Cupid,  a  decidedly  American 
little  boy,  stands  at  his  mother's  knee 
begging  for  the  arrow  she  has  taken 
from  him.  Venus  herself,  sitting  upon 
a  wooded  bank,  is  clothed  from  her  hips 
down,  her  hair  simply  but  modishly  ar- 
ranged. Her  face  and  figure  are  those 
of  a  charming  American  girl,  and  yet 
are  so  purely  and  delicately  drawn  that 
the  classic  outlines  are  not  missed. 

One  of  the  most  delightful  of  Loves  is 
a  study  for  a  statuette  of  Cupid  on  a 
Ball,  by  Macmonnies.  This  is  a  joyous 
dancing  boy,  poised  upon  the  ball  on 
the  tip  of  his  left  foot.  His  left  arm  is 
far  outstretched,  with  the  bow  just  sprung, 


GODDESS  OF  LOVE  AND  HER  SON.   155 

his  right  is  curved  and  over  his  head  as 
the  flying  arrow  left  it.  Looking  up  after 
its  flight,  his  face  has  a  most  winsome, 
laughing  expression  that  steals  straight 
to  one's  heart.  Pose,  construction,  idea 
are  all  charming, — it  is  a  Cupid  to  live 
as  long  as  one  of  Correggio's. 


CHAPTER  VII. 

MYTHOLOGIC    AND    IDEAL    LOVE    SCENES. 

JHILE,  as  said  before,  there  is  a 
growing  inclination  to  accept 
a  picture  or  statue  for  what  it 
is,  rather  than  for  its  literary  merit,  the 
story-telling  element  enters  into  a  large 
division  of  the  plastic  arts.  There  are 
many  artists,  as  there  are  musicians, 
who  use  their  art  principally  t  to  describe 
some  word-definable  scene  or  episode. 
Mother-love,  the  love  of  home,  love 
for  one's  country,  love  of  man  and 
maid,  are  themes  used  over  and  over 
again.  As  in  the  Renaissance,  the  love 
stories  of  god  and  goddess  still  tempt  the 
156 


MYTHOLOGIC    AND    IDEAL   LOVE    SCENES.    1 57 

brush  and  chisel,  and  even  more  than 
ever  artists  tell  tender  tales  of  their  own 
imaginings. 

Watteau,  whose  flower-like  pictures  of 
gay  gallant  and  dainty  damsel  have  an 
unapproached  quality  of  their  own,  painted 
one  of  the  famous  love  scenes  of  the  world : 
The  Embarkation  for  Cytherea,  now  in  the 
Louvre.  It  has  been  called  the  first  gen- 
uine painted  poem  of  Europe  since  the 
Venetian  Renaissance.  As  one  looks  at 
the  sunny,  golden  atmosphere,  the  shim- 
mering garments  of  rose,  yellow,  blue, 
ruby,  and  purplish  violet,  the  gilded  ship 
which  is  waiting  for  the  groups  of  lovers, 
the  myriads  of  Cupids  pulling  up  sail, 
tightening  ropes,  flying  about  in  the  air, 
the  Olympic  grace  and  charm  of  the  scene 
take  one  wholly  captive.  The  distinctive 
characteristics  of  the  various  lovers  are 
incisively  yet  delicately  indicated,  while 
their  dependence  upon  one  another  as 


158  LOVE    IN    ART. 

component  parts  of  the  whole  is  no  less 
expertly  shown. 

Watteau's  Jupiter  and  Antiope,  at  the 
Louvre,  suggests  Titian  without  being  an 
imitation.  The  nymph,  whose  sleep  is 
disturbed  by  the  king  of  gods,  has  a 
rosy,  exquisite  flesh  that  reminds  one 
of  Rubens.  The  delicate,  piquant  sen- 
suousness  of  the  whole  painting,  however, 
is  far  removed  from  the  voluptuous  flesh- 
iness nearly  always  felt  in  the  works  of 
the  great  Flemish  painter. 

Amour  Paisible,  in  the  Neues  Palais, 
of  Potsdam,  is  another  love  scene  by 
Watteau,  somewhat  similar  in  style  and 
idea  to  the  Embarkation  for  Cytherea. 

Frangois  Boucher  designed  many  love 
scenes,  mostly  from  myths,  but  occasion- 
ally from  ideals  of  his  own.  Exquisite 
technically,  with  charm  of  color  and  line, 
these  pictures  show  the  same  sensuality 
always  felt  in  his  works.  Among  them 


MYTHOLOGIC    AND    IDEAL   LOVE    SCENES.    l6l 

are,  The  Shepherd  Sleeping  on  the  Knees 
of  His  Shepherdess,  at  the  Bordeaux  mu- 
seum; Leda,  in  the  Douglas  collection; 
Jupiter  and  Calisto,  at  the  Louvre. 

David,  the  painter  who  turned  France 
back  to  the  purity  and  severity  of  classi- 
cism, drew  with  a  correctness  bordering  on 
rigidity,  yet  with  beautiful  line.  His  color 
was  not  wholly  agreeable.  His  Paris  and 
Helen,  in  the  Louvre,  is  a  fair  example  of 
his  style. 

Prud'hon's  Cupid  and  Psyche ;  Dela- 
croix's Jewish  Wedding,  in  the  Louvre ; 
Kauffman's  Paris  and  Helen ;  Gerard's 
Cupid  and  Psyche,  at  the  Louvre;  Rey- 
nolds's  Hope  Nursing  Love,  at  Lans- 
downe  House,  Cymon  and  Iphigenia, 
in  Buckingham  Palace,  and  Cupid  and 
Psyche ;  Greuze's  Danae  and  Betrothed 
Country  Girl,  at  the  Louvre,  together 
with  Ribera's  The  Favorite  of  the  Day 
(a  jewel-laden,  satin-clothed,  unsmiling 


1 62  LOVE    IN    ART. 

Eastern  girl  led  through  costly  Moorish 
halls,  to  her  master),  are  all  love  stories 
by  world-known  masters.  Since  other 
works  by  the  same  painters  are  elsewhere 
described,  it  is  enough,  perhaps,  merely 
to  mention  these.  Most  of  them  are 
privately  owned. 

Thorwaldsen's  Sale  of  Loves  is  a  de- 
lightful relief,  full  of  both  pathos  and 
humor.  At  one  end  stands  Venus,  with 
a  big  basket  full  of  little  Loves,  which 
she  is  selling  to  various  applicants.  An 
old  man  holds  out  his  arms,  begging  pite- 
ously  for  one,  but  the  little  fellow  flies 
away  in  disgust,  while  a  matronly-looking 
woman  is  lugging  another  one  off  by 
his  wings.  Perched  upon  the  back  of  a 
middle-aged  man  is  one  charming  little 
figure,  but  his  presence  is  unregarded. 
Others  are  going  eagerly  to  women  who 
clasp  them  tenderly,  and  bear  them  away 
with  evident  rejoicing. 


MYTHOLOGIC    AND    IDEAL   LOVE    SCENES.    165 

Perhaps  one  of  the  most  justly  popular 
groups  in  marble  is  Canova's  Cupid  and 
Psyche.  Cupid,  with  his  wings  high  over 
his  head,  bends  to  the  half  prostrate 
Psyche,  and  lifts  her  face  to  his,  while 
she  raises  both  arms  above  his  head.  This 
masterpiece,  with  its  beautiful  lines,  charm- 
ing pose  of  the  figures,  and  their  relation 
to  each  other,  well  deserves  the  admira- 
tion it  has  received.  The  original  is  in 
the  Louvre. 

Sir  Frederick  Leigh  ton's  works  show 
his  keen  delight  in  the  tender  passion, 
for  he  has  illustrated  many  phases  of 
the  subject.  Once  it  is  Nausicaa  Waiting 
for  Odysseus,  with  the  love-light  in  her 
beautiful  eyes.  Again,  it  is  Cymon  com- 
ing upon  Iphigenia,  who  is  asleep  in 
the  midst  of  a  charming  landscape.  This 
is  at  the  Fine  Arts  Society,  in  London. 
Hercules  Wrestling  with  Death  for  the 
Body  of  Alcestis  is  a  remarkably  strong, 


1 66  LOVE    IN    ART. 

well-massed  composition,  the  figure  of 
Death,  with  his  huge,  black  wings,  being 
horribly  gruesome. 

Another  famous  work  of  this  prolific 
painter  is  his  Helen  of  Troy.  The 
stately  bearing  and  beautiful  figure  of 
Helen  are  finely  expressed.  The  poise 
of  the  noble  head  is  queenly,  and  the 
whole  picture  is  a  fine  example  of  pure, 
classic  line  and  spirit. 

Wedded,  at  the  Sidney  Museum,  New 
South  Wales,  has  become  so  universally 
admired  through  photographs  and  repro- 
ductions that  it  seems  unnecessary  to 
describe  it  further.  The  figures  are 
perfectly  drawn  ;  the  pose  is  striking,  yet 
natural  and  charming.  The  only  fault  in 
the  composition  is  that  the  arch  behind 
their  heads  gives  no  outlook  beyond. 
There  is  nothing  to  take  one's  eyes  from 
the  two,  or,  once  taken,  to  bring  them 
back  again. 


WEDDED. 
From  painting  by  Frederick  Leighton. 


MYTHOLOGIC    AND    IDEAL    LOVE    SCENES.    169 

Leighton's  successor  to  the  presidential 
chair  of  the  Royal  Academy,  Sir  John 
Millais,  was  equally  fond  of  painting 
pictures  which  tell  of  man's  love  for 
woman.  Some  of  them  are  more  popular 
than  are  much  stronger  canvases,  yet 
they  are  well  drawn  and  composed,  with 
color,  if  not  of  living  glory,  at  least  inter- 
esting and  reasonable.  In  this  class  come 
his  Yes  or  No,  No,  and  Yes.  There  is 
much  good  dressing  in  them,  but  of  the 
style  of  the  middle  of  this  century,  and 
one's  eyes  linger  unpleasantly  upon  the 
out-of-date  clothes.  His  Huguenot  Lovers, 
however,  strikes  a  higher  note. 

Burne- Jones's  Pyramus  and  Thisbe  is 
exquisite  in  line,  though  sometimes  one 
feels  a  slight  irritation  at  so  much  line. 
His  Romance  of  the  Rose  is  one  of  the 
loveliest  decorative  bits  of  modern  art,  as 
is,  too,  the  Briar  Rose.  The  Chant 
d' Amour  and  Love  Among  the  Ruins  are 


170  LOVE    IN    ART. 

two  other  noted  works.  His  feeling  for 
space,  balance,  and  mass  was  rarely  sen- 
sitive, and  his  expression  nearly  always 
truly  poetic. 

England's  greatest  poet-painter,  and 
one  of  the  greatest  poet-painters  of  any 
clime,  is  George  Watts.  Long  past  his 
prime,  he  shows  no  diminution  of  power. 
Even  the  exhibition  of  1898  at  the  Lon- 
don Academy  held  one  of  the  most 
beautiful  compositions  he  has  ever  pro- 
duced. 

This  was  called  Love  Triumphant,  a 
subject  which  he  treated  very  differently 
some  years  ago.  In  this  latest  work 
a  man  and  woman  lie  prostrate  upon  the 
ground,  their  heads  towards  the  spectator. 
The  sickle  of  Death,  which  has  mowed 
them  to  the  ground,  is  under  one  arm  of 
the  man,  who  is  face  down,  his  left  hand 
holding  the  hand  of  the  woman  who  is 
flat  upon  her  back  beside  him.  Standing 


YES 
From  painting  by  John  Millais. 


MYTHOLOGIC    AND    IDEAL   LOVE    SCENES.    173 

between  them  is  the  figure  of  Love,  tri- 
umphant even  over  Death.  A  whirling 
cloud  of  drapery  leaves  his  figure  almost 
bare.  It  is  a  gloriously  youthful  form, 
superbly  posed.  His  arms  are  wide- 
outstretched  to  heaven,  his  head  is 
thrown  back,  gazing  upwards,  while  high 
over  all  arch  his  beautiful  wings.  The 
poetic  conception  of  the  whole  is  per- 
fected by  its  lines  and  color.  Though 
the  two  figures  are  not  immaculately 
drawn,  the  utter  prostration  is  so  well 
expressed,  and  Love  himself  is  so  won- 
derfully fine,  that  it  is  hardly  claiming 
too  much  to  call  it  one  of  the  world's 
masterpieces. 

Love  and  Life,  an  earlier  picture,  is 
another  notable  work,  showing  a  grand- 
winged  angel  leading  a  frail  form  over  a 
rocky  mountain  path.  The  color  in  this 
is  dull,  almost  monochromatic,  but  the 
tonal  relation  between  the  heavily  robed 


174  LOVE    IN    ART. 

angel  and  the  tender,  lovely  nude  form  is 
charmingly  rendered. 

Perhaps  his  best  known  picture  is  Love 
and  Death,  a  composition  whose  pathetic, 
wonderful  beauty  only  time's  ravages  can 
destroy.  Death's  figure,  with  the  drapery 
which  falls  into  such  marvellous  mass  and 
line,  is  one  of  the  most  remarkably 
designed  and  executed  figures  in  all 
painting.  Nothing  can  be  more  beautiful 
than  the  pose,  expressing,  as  it  does,  an 
irresistible,  compelling  power,  free  from 
any  suggestion  of  personal  desire,  relent- 
less, but  without  violence.  His  head  is 
bent  as  if  he  would  not  see  the  ruin  he  is 
compelled  to  work,  while  the  uplifted  arm 
reaches  calmly,  unfalteringly  above  Love's 
head,  to  push  open  the  door  which  the 
little  figure  guards  so  frantically.  Love 
himself,  with  his  arrows  crushed  behind 
him,  his  baby  frame  passionately,  futilely 
protesting  against  the  oncoming  terror,  is 


WATTS.  —  LOVE  AND  DEATH. 


MYTHOLOGIC    AND    IDEAL    LOVE    SCENES.    177 

a  poetic  epitome  of  all  fond,  suffering 
hearts. 

The  tragedy  of  love  and  life  appeals 
strongly  to  this  artist  poet,  and  one  of 
his  saddest  and  most  powerful  works  is 
Orpheus  and  Eurydice.  This  shows  the 
two  just  as  Eurydice  is  being  forced  back 
to  the  realm  of  shadow  out  of  the  arms  of 
Orpheus.  His  agony,  the  utter  helpless- 
ness of  the  fair  maiden,  the  immutable 
fate  that  separates  them,  are  all  amazingly 
expressed.  Technically,  too,  the  balance 
of  light  and  shade,  tone  and  color,  is 
wonderfully  managed. 

Very  unlike  Watts's  poems  are  the 
Idyls  of  Alma-Tadema.  Of  late  years 
they  have  less  pastoral  simplicity  and 
more  Oriental  lavishness  about  them,  but 
a  certain  unity  of  idea  saves  most  of  them 
from  becoming  mere  ornate  elaborations. 
The  marble  halls  and  balconies  where  he 
places  his  Greek  or  Oriental  youths  and 


178  LOVE    IN    ART. 

maidens  form  a  delicately  cool  setting  foi 
the  classic  love  tales  he  delineates  so  well 
If  there  is  a  little  of  the  hardness  of  the 
stone  in  his  gracefully  posed,  historically 
correct  figures,  at  least  the  color  scheme 
is  always  an  entrancing  harmony,  and 
the  composition  beautifully  massed  and 
balanced. 

Among  many  similar  scenes  is  the  Old 
Story.  This  is  unusually  simple  and  sug- 
gestive. On  a  delicately  veined  marble 
seat  are  a  girl  and  a  man.  She  is  sitting 
as  far  from  him  as  possible,  while  he,  lean- 
ing forward  on  his  elbow,  gazes  intently 
at  her.  The  color  is  charming,  the  poses 
are  natural;  the  story  is  clear  and  dra- 
matic. Other  works  of  his  are  The  First 
Whisper  of  Love ;  Pleading ;  Who  is  it  ? 
Shy ;  A  Love  Missile ;  The  Question ; 
this  last  one  of  his  smallest  and  most 
delightful  canvases. 

One  of  the  young  painters  of  England 


MYTHOLOGIC    AND    IDEAL    LOVE    SCENES.    179 

is  Philip  Burne-Jones,  Sir  Edward's  son. 
If  one  may  judge  from  the  photograph  of 
a  recent  painting  by  him,  he  is  without 
some  of  his  father's  exaggeration,  and 
with  much  of  his  talent.  The  picture 
referred  to  is  called  The  Vampire,  and 
shows  a  man  apparently  lifeless,  thrown 
back  on  a  couch,  while  leaning  forward  on 
her  hands  over  him  is  the  woman  he  had 
loved.  Kipling's  poem  says  in  words  what 
the  brush  writes  in  tone,  line,  and  color: 

"  The  fool  was  stripped  to  his  foolish  hide, 

(Even  as  you  and  I !) 

Which  she  might  have  seen  when  she  threw  him 
aside, 

(But  it  isn't  on  record  the  lady  tried) 
So  some  of  him  lived,  but  the  most  of  him  died. 
(Even  as  you  and  I ! )  " 

Israal,  the  Millet  of  the  North,  oftener 
portrays  mother-love  than  the  bond  be- 
tween man  and  woman ;  but  the  most 
beautiful  picture  he  ever  painted  tells  the 


180  LOVE    IN   ART. 

old,  old  story  as  it  seldom  has  been  told. 
Alone  in  the  World  shows  a  peasant  sit- 
ting with  his  head  bowed  in  his  hands 
beside  a  bed  where  the  pall  of  death  rests 
upon  a  toil-worn,  year-worn  woman.  The 
light  is  dim  in  the  little  room,  most  of  it 
coming  in  through  one  small  window,  and 
the  figures  are  half  immersed  in  the  shad- 
owy light.  There  is  no  attempt  at  care- 
fully articulated  forms,  the  color  is  sober, 
almost  sombre,  though  never  cold  or  thin, 
and  style  is  absolutely  lacking.  Yet,  some- 
thing greater  than  all  the  technic  of  Paris 
holds  one  in  thrall.  The  very  heart  of 
the  lonely  man  is  laid  bare,  tenderly,  sa- 
credly bare,  and  one  can  only  stand  with 
hushed  breath,  reading  the  love  story  of 
the  old  man's  life. 

Of  the  modern  French  school,  Diaz 
left  a  number  of  love  scenes,  full  of  his 
indefinable,  mystic  charm,  suggesting,  in 
spite  of  an  evident  gaiety,  the  weirdness 


MYTHOLOGIC    AND    IDEAL    LOVE    SCENES.    l8l 

of  Poe  or  Hawthorne.  The  Lovers  has 
something  of  this  quality,  chiefly  recog- 
nizable, perhaps,  in  the  shroud-like  shadow 
enveloping  the  two.  The  girl  is  sitting 
upon  her  lover's  knee,  her  arm  about  his 
neck,  the  color  and  shadow  about  her  eyes 
waking  memories  of  the  warm  depths  of 
sun-haunted  forests. 

The  coloring  of  Diaz  was  as  distinctive 
as  it  was  exquisite,  and  at  his  best  he  was 
a  true  poet  with  strong  originality.  His 
Don't  Come  In  is  a  charming  bit  of 
genre.  A  young  woman,  with  her  throat 
bare,  stands  before  a  curtained  door,  which 
a  little  Love  half  opens.  She  beckons 
three  women,  standing  near,  not  to  come 
in,  while  a  Love  at  her  feet  pushes  one  of 
them  back. 

Hamon  and  Aubert  have  also  designed 
some  idyllic  love  stories,  full  of  a  dainty 
grace.  The  last  work  of  Hamon  struck 
a  deeper  note  than  was  usual  to  his  aerial 


1 82  LOVE    IN    ART. 

fancy.  The  Sad  Shore  is  the  shore  of 
Death,  and  on  it  he  placed  the  famous 
lovers  of  history  and  poetry,  such  as 
Francesca  da  Rimini  and  Paolo,  Dante 
and  Beatrice,  etc. 

More  in  his  lighter  style  is  his  Love  on 
a  Visit,  where  a  little  Cupid  knocks  at  a 
knobless  door  and  tries  to  hide  his  bow 
and  arrows  from  the  girl  who  looks  laugh- 
ingly out  through  a  big  crack. 

Aubert's  Cooling  the  Wings  of  Love, 
Approaching  Love,  and  Love  on  a  Vaca- 
tion, are  equally  delightful  fantastic  imag- 
inings. Love  on  a  Vacation  is  a  popular 
little  canvas,  showing  Cupid  on  his  jour- 
ney, with  a  ridiculous  bag  in  one  hand 
( since  he  has  no  need  for  apparel ! )  and 
his  bow  and  arrows  in  the  other,  standing 
before  a  young  maid  whom  he  has  met 
on  the  path.  Both  figures  are  skilfully 
drawn,  and  the  setting  of  the  scene  is  a 
pretty  bit  of  landscape. 


MYTHOLOGIC    AND    IDEAL    LOVE    SCENES.    183 

The  Florentine  Poet,  by  Cabanel,  and 
Bouguereau's  Love  and  Youth,  and  a 
Nymph  Combating  with  Cupid,  are  fine 
examples  of  the  way  these  two  artists 
have  chosen  to  describe  the  universal 
passion. 

Cot,  who  in  his- 'lightness  a'n'cl  grace 
really  belongs  with  Aubert  and  Hamon, 
reached  in  his  Spring  a  classic  simplicity 
and  purity  rarely  attained  by  moderns. 
The  maid  and  youth  swinging  among  the 
trees  in  the  spring-time  sunshine  are  as 
exquisitely  executed  as  the  figures  on  a 
Greek  vase,  and  have  something  of  the 
same  Arcadian  spirit. 

Lefebvre,  another  modern  classicist, 
shows  in  his  Toilet  of  the  Bride  his 
feeling  for  pure  outline,  serene  composi- 
tion, and  delicacy  of  expression.  He  also 
painted  the  Moorish  Bride. 

Love's  Messenger,  a  girl  whose  skirt 
full  of  roses  two  Cupids  are  trying  to 


184  LOVE    IN    ART. 

steal,  is  by  Chaplin,  a  true  Parisian,  with 
the  Parisian's  artificiality. 

Taken  by  death  before  he  had  expressed 
half  the  artistic  soul  within  him,  Bastien 
Le  Page,  young  as  he  was,  will  forever 
remain  one  of  the  great  French  painters 
of  the  nineteenth  century.  His  Love  in 
the  Village,  almost  his  last  work,  won  all 
Paris,  and  has  since,  by  its  poetic  grace 
and  unaffected  sentiment,  gained  the 
applause  of  the  world.  It  is  a  simple 
enough  scene  of  a  rough  peasant  lad 
trying  to  ask  the  momentous  question 
of  a  little  lass  who  stands  on  the  other 
side  of  the  fence,  with  downcast  eyes, 
timid  yet  eager.  The  pale  green  back- 
ground is  a  little  too  monotonous  and  too 
noticeable,  but  otherwise,  color,  as  well 
as  drawing  and  composition,  is  poetically 
realistic. 

Dagnan  Bouveret's  The  Blessing  is  a 
faithful  transcript  of  French  peasant  life, 


SPRINGTIME    OF   LOVE. 
From  painting  by  Paul  Thumann. 


MYTHOLOGIC    AND    IDEAL    LOVE    SCENES.    1 87 

clearly  showing  the  artist's  skill  in  render- 
ing the  subtle  values  of  light  and  atmos- 
phere as  well  as  the  deep  sympathy  with 
which  he  approaches  every  phase  of  life. 
It  is  an  interior  scene  where  the  young 
couple,  who  are  starting  to  church  to 
be  made  man  and  wife,  kneel  a  moment 
before  the  old  father  for  his  blessing. 
Another  room  behind  is  full  of  maids 
and  youths  fluttering  about  the  table 
spread  with  the  wedding  feast.  Over 
all  shimmers  the  golden  sunshine,  veiled 
by  white  muslin  curtains  at  the  window. 

One  of  the  greatest  of  color ists,  with 
deep  poetic  feeling,  and  a  magnificent 
draughtsman,  was  Paul  Jacques  Aime 
Baudry,  whose  decoration  of  the  Foyer 
of  the  Nouvel  Opera  in  Paris  made  him 
also  one  of  the  few  great  mural  painters. 
Among  his  poetic  versions  of  old  and  new 
love  tales  are  L'Enlevement  de  Psyche, 
a  phantasy  of  exquisite  tones,  Leda, 


1 88  LOVE    IN    ART. 

Orpheus  and  Eurydice,  and  Diana 
Driving  Away  Love.  This  last  he 
repeated  several  times,  always  varying 
it  slightly.  Diana,  stepping  from  a 
pond  at  the  edge  of  the  woods,  finds 
Cupid  sporting  about,  his  bows  and 
arrows  lying  on  her  clothes.  She  picks 
up  one  to  drive  him  away,  and  he  flies 
into  the  air  to  escape  her  wrath.  She 
is  a  lovely  creature,  dark-haired,  lithe,  and 
graceful,  and  Cupid  is  the  incarnation 
of  roguish  witchery. 

Benjamin  Constant,  the  Orientalist  of 
gorgeous  coloring,  painted  a  Riff  Pirate's 
Wife  and  The  Women  of  the  Harem,  two 
rich-toned  bits  of  Eastern  poetry. 

Kray's  Psyche  and  The  Fisherman's 
Love,  Kaulbach's  Helena,  Dahl's  Female 
Attraction,  Von  Bodenhausen's  Hero  and 
Leander,  Beyschlag's  Demanding  Toll, 
Andriotti's  Wooing,  Netscher's  Sacrifice 
to  Venus  and  Sacrifice  to  the  God  of 


n 


.6y  Curto 


MYTHOLOGIC    AND    IDEAL    LOVE    SCENES.    19 1 

Love  (both  of  which  are  in  the  Louvre), 
are  all  extremely  popular  pictures,  and  so 
familiar  through  photographs  that  descrip- 
tion of  them  is  practically  unnecessary. 
Of  most  it  is  enough  to  say  that  they 
are  popular  because  they  tell  a  pleasing 
story  rather  than  because  they  are  true 
works  of  art.  Like  the  majority  of  the 
works  mentioned  in  this  chapter,  they 
are  mostly  in  private  collections. 

On  a  slightly  higher  plane  is  Paul 
Thuman's  Spring-time  of  Love,  which 
has  a  charming  chiaroscuro  and  whose 
two  figures  are  in  the  main  well  drawn. 
A  delicate  tenderness  is  its  strongest 
claim  to  appreciation. 

America,  again,  has  done  less  in  this 
subject  than  other  nations.  Perhaps  one 
of  the  most  noted  and  best  examples 
of  what  our  painters  have  accomplished 
is  William  M.  Hunt's  Marguerite.  The 
charming  composition  is  noble  in  its  sim- 


I92  LOVE    IN    ART. 

plicity.  The  whole  story  is  told  in  the 
face  and  attitude  of  the  lovely  girl  who 
asks  of  the  daisy's  petals  whether  her 
love  loves  her. 

In  the  Library  of  Congress,  at  Wash- 
ington, Edward  Simmons  has  nine  tym- 
panum decorations.  One  of  these  is 
Erato,  a  nude  figure  holding  a  rose,  the 
flower  of  love.  She  is  drawn  with  much 
strength  and  purity  of  line,  and  is  splen- 
didly placed.  Mr.  Simmons  has  done 
some  remarkable  mural  paintings,  and 
deservedly  ranks  among  America's  most 
noted  decorators. 

Walter  Me E wen  is  also  represented  in 
the  Library  of  Congress.  Among  his 
nine  panels,  illustrating  episodes  in  the 
lives  of  the  Greek  heroes,  are  those  show- 
ing Theseus,  Hercules,  and  Paris.  The- 
seus, at  the  command  of  Minerva,  is 
leaving  Ariadne  to  her  fate  on  the  Isle 
of  Naxos;  Hercules,  deeply  fascinated 


-=       to 

2       O 


'=      o 

&    U 


I  3 


MYTHOLOGIC    AND    IDEAL    LOVE    SCENES.    195 

with  Omphale,  the  Queen  of  Lydia,  is 
discovered  at  her  feet,  dressed  as  a 
woman,  and  spinning.  In  the  Paris 
panel,  Menelaus  and  the  Trojan  hero 
are  conversing  at  the  former's  court, 
while  Helen  looks  on,  listening.  The 
composition  is  interesting  in  line,  mass, 
and  placing;  the  figures  distinguished, 
simple,  and  forceful.  Helen  has  hardly 
the  grandeur  of  face  which  one  expects, 
but  her  pose  is  dignified  and  graceful,  her 
figure  fine.  Mr.  Me E wan  has  achieved  a 
distinct  success  in  this  work,  and  has  con- 
tributed nine  really  beautiful  decorations 
to  America's  most  noted  building. 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

LOVE    SCENES   IN    LITERATURE. 

llCTORIAL  illustration  of  liter- 
ary works  is,  on  the  whole,  a 
modern  invention.  During  the 
earliest  years  of  the  Renaissance  there  was, 
of  course,  with  the  exception  of  the  Bible 
and  works  in  Latin  and  Greek,  very  little 
literature  extant.  But  till  nearly  the  end 
of  the  eighteenth  century  these  sources 
remained  almost  the  only  literary  inspira- 
tion for  painters  and  sculptors. 

To-day  many  of  the  most  talented  ar- 
tists give  much  time  to  book  illustration, 
and  fine  paintings  are  constantly  produced 
whose  subject  is  found  in  some  noted  play, 
poem,  or  story. 

196 


LOVE    SCENES    IN    LITERATURE.         197 

Delacroix,  born  at  the  end  of  the 
eighteenth  century,  was  among  the  first 
to  illustrate  a  love  tale.  He  has  been 
called  the  Victor  Hugo  of  painters,  and 
his  touch  was  of  marvellous  power  and 
charm.  His  canvases  glow  with  the  very 
soul  of  his  age,  and,  although  drawing  was 
not  his  strongest  point,  it  is  hardly  missed 
in  the  midst  of  such  remarkable  imagina- 
tion, strength  of  expression,  and  perfect 
presentation  of  time  and  place.  One  of 
his  happiest  effects  is  his  Faust  and  Mar- 
guerite, a  subject  peculiarly  adapted  to  his 
brilliant,  searching,  sympathetic  treatment. 

Boucher,  earlier  still,  painted  with  ex- 
travagant brush  a  picture  of  Rinaldo  and 
Armida.  It  is  now  in  the  Louvre.  In 
spite  of  the  debased  point  of  view  which 
one  always  feels  in  Boucher's  works,  it 
has  a  decided  fascination  of  color  and 
atmosphere. 

Less  noted  for  color  than  for  a  remark- 


198  LOVE    IN    ART. 

able  depth  of  expression,  is  Ary  Scheffer's 
Dante  and  Beatrice.  Both  figures  are 
fine.  She  stands  on  the  clouds,  slightly 
above  him,  with  her  face  uplifted  to  the 
sky,  while  he  gazes  at  her  with  hungry 
eyes.  The  drawing  is  true  and  strong, 
and  the  scene  dramatic,  with  a  rarefied 
intensity  of  feeling. 

Scheffer  often  painted  Marguerite,  also, 
generally  alone,  the  wonderful  expression 
he  put  into  face,  eyes,  and  pose  telling  at 
a  glance  the  whole  story.  Among  them 
are  Marguerite  at  the  Fountain  and  the 
Walk  in  the  Garden.  Another  tragic 
love  scene  is  his  Paolo  and  Francesca 
da  Rimini. 

Many  painters  have  tried  to  express 
the  temptation,  love,  sorrow,  agony,  and 
repentance  of  Goethe's  Marguerite,  and 
Laurens's  Faust  and  Marguerite  in  the 
Garden  is  one  of  the  more  successful 
attempts.  Faust,  tall  and  chivalrous,  is 


LOVE    SCENES    IN    LITERATURE.         199 

walking  beside  Marguerite,  whose  eyes 
are  downcast  as  she  nervously  plucks  to 
pieces  a  daisy.  Faust  has  a  haunted, 
sombre  expression,  but  his  eyes  are 
ardent  as  he  studies  the  fair,  tender  face 
beside  him.  The  work  has  all  the  direct 
vigor  and  command  of  construction,  of 
which  Laurens  is  past  master;  the  pic- 
ture is  great  in  the  effect  it  produces  by 
apparently  simple  means. 

Dante  Gabriel  Rossetti  required,  more 
than  most  painters,  the  stimulus  of  some 
word  description.  Nearly  every  one  of 
his  pictures  illustrates  scenes  taken  from 
his  own  or  some  other  poet's  songs. 
While  many  of  his  paintings  easily  stand 
by  themselves,  purely  as  paintings,  it  is 
necessary,  as  a  rule,  to  know  what  they 
illustrate,  thoroughly  to  appreciate  or 
enjoy  them.  Intensely,  but  subtly  dra- 
matic, full  of  a  personality  often  erratic 
though  usually  charming,  his  works  pro- 


200  LOVE    IN    ART. 

claim  him  a  master  of  line  and  of  a 
refined  sensuousness  hard  to  define. 
Poems  dealing  with  the  relation  of  man 
to  woman  appealed  especially  to  him, 
and  were  the  ones  he  most  frequently 
illustrated. 

One  of  his  noted  works  is  the  Blessed 
Damozel,  picturing  his  own  poem  by  that 
name.  It  is  the  story  of  a  maiden  who 
waits  in  heaven  with  longing  heart  for  the 
lover  she  left  on  earth.  The  Damozel,  in 
a  robe  of  sky  blue  with  a  scarf  above  of 
bronze  tint  with  silvery  hues,  leans  on  one 
arm  over  the  golden  wall  of  heaven.  Her 
deep  golden  hair  is  twined  with  purple 
stars  and  falls  about  a  beautiful  face,  sad 
with  watching.  Behind  her  in  the  heav- 
enly gardens  are  numerous  reunited 
lovers,  clad  in  deep  blue,  embracing 
each  other  in  the  midst  of  changing 
lights  and  shadows.  Two  ministering 
spirits  are  in  front  of  the  golden  parapet, 


ROSSETTI.  —  HEAD  OF  THE  BLESSED  DAMOZEL 


LOVE    SCENES    IN    LITERATURE.         203 

their  wings  of  blue  so  intense  as  almost 
to  be  flame,  curving  grandly  over  their 
heads ;  they  lead  the  lovers  up  the  heav- 
enly path  when  earth  has  slipped  from 
them.  Between  and  immediately  below 
these  two  is  a  seraph,  an  infant's  head 
surrounded  by  wings  of  many  curves  and 
folds,  of  a  deep  and  vivid  green,  about  a 
face  as  sad  as  it  is  watchful.  The  pic- 
ture is  rarely  fascinating,  and  if  Rossetti's 
drawing  had  been  as  strong  as  his  poetic 
conception,  the  only  imperfection  of  an 
otherwise  remarkable  work  would  have 
vanished. 

The  Beloved  is  better  drawn  and  in 
many  ways  more  charming.  It  was  de- 
signed for  the  words  in  Solomon's  Song  : 
"  My  Beloved  is  mine,  and  I  am  his ;  let 
him  kiss  me  with  the  kisses  of  his  mouth, 
for  thy  love  is  better  than  wine."  The 
picture  is  presumably  a  marriage  proces- 
sion. The  bride  is  clad  in  an  apple  green 


2O4  LOVE    IN    ART. 

robe  lustrous  as  silk  and  splendid  with 
gold  and  embroideries  of  leaves  and 
flowers  in  natural  colors.  Her  veil  of 
tissue  is  a  different  green  from  her  gown, 
and  above  her  forehead  is  an  aigrette  of 
scarlet  enamel  and  gold.  Her  face  is  fair 
and  fine,  with  the  least  hint  of  blushes 
within  the  skin,  her  eyes  are  "amorous 
lidded,"  and  there  is  great  tenderness  in 
her  look.  Below  her,  leading  the  pro- 
cession, is  a  negro  boy  carrying  a  golden 
vase ;  his  dark  coloring  furnishes  the 
needed  contrast  to  all  the  high  light 
tones.  The  painting  somewhat  suggests 
Tintoretto. 

Tristram  and  Iseult  Drinking  the  Love 
Potion  is  another  of  Rossetti's  mystic, 
fateful  love  scenes ;  and  still  another 
shows  Launcelot  and  Guinevere  at  the 
Tomb  of  King  Arthur. 

There  are  few  naturally  happy  love  pic- 
tures among  the  works  of  this  king  of  the 


LOVE    SCENES    IN    LITERATURE.         2O5 

Pre-Raphaelites,  fate-compelled  tragedies 
appealing  more  to  his  nature.  See,  for 
instance,  the  Prison  Scene  of  Marguerite 
and  Faust,  Paolo  and  Francesca,  and 
Found. 

In  the  first  of  these,  Faust  has  come  to 
urge  Marguerite  to  fly,  but  though  she 
embraces  him  passionately  in  love  and 
terror,  she  lets  him  go  without  her.  The 
devil  has  just  entered  and  plainly  urges 
haste.  It  is  not  a  great  drawing,  yet  the 
love  and  terror  of  Marguerite,  the  futile 
anguish  of  Faust,  and  the  utter  helpless- 
ness of  both,  caught  in  the  maelstrom  of 
destiny,  are  all  wonderfully  indicated. 

The  first  compartment  of  the  Paolo  and 
Francesca  composition  shows  the  two  sit- 
ting in  a  summer-house  beneath  an  arched 
opening,  the  book  which  has  tempted  them 
upon  their  knees,  their  heads  together, 
their  lips  clinging.  The  story  of  King 
Arthur's  guilty  queen  had  been  the 


2O6  LOVE    IN    ART. 

match  to  light  the  passion  in  their  two 
hearts,  and  neither  had  strength  nor 
desire  to  resist.  The  complete  momen- 
tary abandon  of  the  two  figures  is  power- 
fully yet  delicately  insisted  upon.  As  a 
composition  it  is  well  massed,  the  curved 
opening  behind  and  above  the  man  and 
woman  adding  much  to  the  beauty  of 
line. 

In  the  second  compartment  of  the  pic- 
ture the  condemned  pair  are  floating  in 
the  nether  world,  still  clasping  each  other, 
their  feet  folded,  their  garments  composed 
as  if  Death's  hand  had  smoothed  them. 
Dante,  in  the  background,  regards  the 
figure  of  Love,  who,  holding  a  flaming 
heart,  passes  heavenwards  on  the  other 
side  of  the  picture,  and  seems  to  sign  to 
Dante  to  follow  him  and  to  leave  the 
couple  to  their  fate.  This  is  not  without 
strength  or  a  certain  awesome  charm,  but 
it  falls  short  of  complete  expression. 


MILLAIS.  —  BRIDE  OF  LAMMERMOOR. 


LOVE    SCENES    IN    LITERATURE.         2OQ 

Millais  was  at  one  time  strongly  in- 
fluenced by  the  Pre-Raphaelite  movement 
in  England,  but  he  broke  with  the  brother- 
hood finally,  and  now  is  chiefly  known  by 
his  purely  "  Popular  Works."  Effie  Deans 
is  one  of  these.  She  and  a  dog  are  on  one 
side  of  a  fence,  her  lover  on  the  other, 
with  his  hand  on  her  arm.  There  is  little 
to  say  about  it,  or  about  his  Bride  of  Lam- 
mermoor,  whose  pale,  suffering  face  will 
always  appeal  with  strong  pathos  to  the 
large  majority. 

With  a  hand  trained  to  any  demands 
his  artistic  concepts  may  make  upon  it, 
George  Watts  has  perfectly  rendered  the 
poetic  thoughts  which  fill  his  mind.  There 
are  few  Englishmen  whose  technical  abil- 
ity is  equal  to  their  ideas.  Watts's  Paolo 
and  Francesca,  for  example,  is  far  ahead 
in  its  wonderful  suggestiveness  of  the  one 
by  Rossetti.  Not  necessarily  because  the 
former's  idea  is  more  poetic,  but  because 


210  LOVE    IN    ART. 

he  portrays  it  better.  Heavily  draped, 
floating  into  space,  surrounded  by  storm 
clouds  that  whirl  them  like  leaves,  the 
two  clinging  figures  express  all  the  agony, 
the  sin,  the  shame,  and  their  everlasting 
love.  The  very  spirit  of  Dante's  lines 
lives  again  in  the  picture  of  the  heart- 
breaking, immutable  decree  which  con- 
demns the  lovers  to  eternal  torment.  The 
lines  of  the  whirling  clouds,  the  clasping 
figures  with  their  voluminous  drapery,  all 
are  wonderfully  dramatic.  It  is  a  poem 
in  line. 

Cabanel  also  painted  a  Francesca  da 
Rimini.  With  the  French  melodramatic 
instinct,  however,  he  chose  for  his  subject 
the  moment  when  Francesca's  husband 
has  but  just  killed  her  and  his  brother. 
Although  it  is  a  ghastly  scene,  Cabanel 
has  handled  it  so  dexterously  and  with  so 
true  a  touch  that  it  is  the  spirit  rather 
than  the  horrible  materialization  that 


LOVE    SCENES    IN    LITERATURE.         213 

appeals  to  one.  Not  the  dying  bodies 
and  the  murderous  assassin  are  seen,  but 
the  passion  of  weak,  sinning  hearts  and 
the  outraged  faith  of  a  trusting  husband. 
The  composition  is  superbly  balanced  in 
line,  chiaroscuro,  and  mass.  The  figures 
are  splendid  in  drawing,  the  color  rich  and 
quiet.  It  is  in  the  Luxembourg. 

In  the  Luxembourg,  too,  France's  mon- 
ument to  the  merit  of  living  talent,  hangs 
James  Tissot's  Meeting  of  Faust  and 
Marguerite.  There  is  nothing  devilish 
or  sinister  in  the  quiet  scene.  It  is  as  if 
Tissot  wished  to  impress  the  fact  that 
great  sin,  great  love,  or  great  joy  is  not 
heralded  by  the  presence  of  angels  or 
demons.  Marguerite,  as  she  comes  out 
of  the  church,  is  a  demure  maiden  with 
downcast  eyes,  and  a  face  as  pure  as  it  is 
sweet  and  tender.  Faust,  who  greets  her 
with  much  reverence  of  manner,  is  a 
gentlemanly  looking,  handsomely  dressed 


214  LOVE    IN    ART. 

gallant,  only  the  lower  part  of  his  face 
showing  the  fatal  weakness  in  his  charac- 
ter. Well  drawn,  and  interestingly  if  not 
powerfully  composed,  the  picture  is  un- 
usually realistic. 

One  of  the  most  pathetic  of  modern 
love  stories  is  Boutet  de  Mouvel's  draw- 
ing of  Landry  at  the  bedside  of  the  dying 
Zaviere.  This  is  merely  an  illustration, 
pure  and  simple,  of  Ferdinand  Fabre's 
charming  romance  of  Zaviere,  but  it  de- 
serves to  rank  among  the  pictures  of  true 
pathos  and  power.  Zaviere  is  in  bed,  a 
little  Madonna  hanging  on  the  wall  above, 
while  Landry  is  on  his  knee,  one  hand 
holding  hers,  his  head  hidden  on  the  bed, 
her  right  hand  resting  lightly  upon  his 
arm.  So  pale,  so  weak,  so  near  to  death 
is  the  little  Zaviere,  that  she  cannot  even 
deeply  mourn  the  parting  which  is  at 
hand.  She  is  beyond  all  fear  and  all  dis- 
may; the  brooding  of  the  wings  of  the 


LOVE    SCENES    IN    LITERATURE.         21 7 

angel  of  death  have  soothed  and  quieted 
her.  With  equal  power  has  De  Mouvel 
shown  the  agony  of  the  boy  lover,  agony 
which  yet  for  her  sake  he  must  constrain. 
Not  a  line  of  Fabre's  story  is  needed 
to  increase  the  effect  of  this  intensely 
dramatic  drawing. 

Max  and  Makart,  Kaulbach,  Hoffman- 
Zeitz,  Dicksee,  Castagnola  von  Bodenhau- 
sen,  Liezen-Mayer,  have  all  painted  scenes 
from  well-known  love  stories.  The  con- 
stant sale  of  photographs  of  these  works 
proves  the  appreciation  of  the  public. 

Among  them  is  a  dramatic  canvas  of 
Filippi  Lippi  declaring  love  to  Lucrezia 
Buti,  by  G.  Castagnola,  who  has  followed 
Vasari's  version  of  the  affair. 

On  wave-swept  rocks  stands  Hero, 
painted  by  Bodenhausen,  gazing  in  an- 
guish at  Leander's  body  in  the  surf  before 
her.  Though  somewhat  theatric,  the  pic- 
ture has  power,  and  is  decidedly  vigorous 


2l8  LOVE    IN    ART. 

in  handling.  Herr  von  Bodenhausen  is 
the  painter  of  the  well-known  Nydia,  with 
her  basket  of  flowers,  and  great  unseeing 
eyes. 

Liezen-Mayer  illustrated  all  of  Goethe's 
Faust,  and  some  of  his  designs  are  charm- 
ing. In  the  prison  scene  he  has  depicted 
the  change  which  has  come  over  the 
beautiful  face  of  Marguerite  with  real 
force. 

Noted  American  painters  have  not  only 
often  used  episodes  taken  from  literature 
as  subjects  for  painting,  but  the  majority 
of  them  have  done  a  great  deal  of  book 
illustration.  It  is  hardly  asserting  too 
much  to  say  that  some  of  the  very  best 
artistic  work  done  in  this  country  is  to  be 
found  in  that  department. 

E.  A.  Abbey's  remarkable  drawings  for 
Shakespeare's  plays  are  too  familiar  to 
need  description.  Perhaps  as  excellent 
as  any  are  Take,  O  Take  Those  Lips 


LOVE    SCENES    IN    LITERATURE.        2 19 

Away,  from  "  Measure  for  Measure," 
where  Mariana  sits  disconsolate  on  a 
high  carved  bench,  ordering  the  young 
player  to  leave  her  to  her  sorrows ;  two 
scenes  from  "The  Tempest,"  one  where 
Ferdinand  first  meets  Miranda,  and  the 
other  where  he  holds  both  her  hands 
in  his ;  and  from  "  The  Taming  of  the 
Shrew,"  where  Petruchio  is  lugging  the 
terror-stricken  Catherine  down-stairs  away 
from  her  frightened  people.  Master  of 
composition,  of  graceful  line  and  well- 
balanced  mass,  a  strong  colorist,  and  a 
perfect  draughtsman,  Mr.  Abbey  has 
put  much  of  his  great  talent  into  these 
and  other  illustrations. 

A  volume  of  old  English  Songs  and 
Ballads  is  full  of  his  quaint  conceits, 
love  tales  in  line  as  well  as  rhyme. 
Among  them  are  "  Sweet  Nelly,  My 
Heart's  Delight,"  "  What  Hap  Had  I  to 
Marry  a  Shrew,"  "  Here's  to  the  Maiden 


220  LOVE    IN    ART. 

of  Bashful  Fifteen,"  the  lovely  pictures  of 
Barbara  Allen,  "  Sally  in  our  Alley,"  and 
"  Phillada." 

In  one  of  the  late  London  Academy 
Exhibitions,  Mr.  Abbey  had  a  large 
canvas  entitled  Hamlet  and  Ophelia.  It 
won  great  praise,  but  has  not  yet  been 
seen  in  America. 

Elihu  Vedder,  the  American  Mystic,  in 
spite  of  his  noted  mural  paintings  and  his 
large  army  of  canvases,  is  best  known  by 
his  wonderful  illustrations  for  Omar 
Khayyam's  Poem  of  Life,  Wine,  Love, 
and  Death.  If  Mr.  Vedder's  color  were 
less  formal  and  sombre,  his  work  would 
have  few  rivals. 

Will  H.  Low  is  another  painter,  better 
known  to  the  world  at  large  as  one  of  the 
most  poetic  of  illustrators.  Among  his 
first  successes  were  his  designs  for  Keats's 
Odes  and  Sonnets.  One  of  the  most 
entrancing  is  for  the  "  Ode  to  Psyche." 


LOVE    SCENES    IN    LITERATURE.         221 

Cupid  and  Psyche  lie  asleep  on  the  edge 
of  a  stream,  high  bordered  by  softest 
grass.  Their  wings  are  under  them,  and 
one  arm  of  Psyche  has  dropped,  letting 
her  hand  fall  into  the  water.  The  two 
figures  are  exquisitely  drawn,  and  over 
all  is  a  sylvan,  Arcadian  charm.  His 
illustrations  for  "  Lamia  "  are  even  more 
beautiful,  and  show  his  art  at  its  highest 
expression. 

Kenyon  Cox's  illustrations  for  Rossetti's 
"  Blessed  Damozel "  are  vigorous  and  mas- 
terly drawings,  without  a  trace  of  the  mys- 
tic weirdness  Rossetti's  own  interpretation 
seems  to  demand. 

Mrs.  Kenyon  Cox  has  recently  finished 
a  picture  which  puts  her  well  up  in  the 
list  of  skilful  American  painters.  This 
is  called  The  Lovers,  and  was  inspired  by 
Austin  Dobson's  poem  of  "  A  Song  of 
Angiola,  in  Heaven."  The  two  figures 
who  have  met  in  the  lover's  dream, 


222  LOVE    IN    ART. 

in  heaven,  are  drawn  with  much  poetic 
feeling,  though  their  abnormal  height  at 
first  creates  a  rather  unpleasant  effect. 
They  are  charmingly  posed,  and  the 
lights  and  shadows  are  treated  with 
unusual  sureness  of  touch.  Angiola  is  a 
lovely  bride-robed  figure,  and  the  deli- 
cacy of  the  yet  passionate  greeting  of 
the  two  is  beautifully  suggested.  If  Mrs. 
Cox's  coloring  had  less  of  the  hardness 
and  thinness  characteristic  of  her  hus- 
band's brush,  few  women  painters  would 
surpass  her. 

H.  Siddons  Mowbray,  an  artist  of 
strong  imagination,  of  fine  drawing  and 
color,  devotes  most  of  his  talent  to  por- 
traying the  simplest  and  sweetest  of 
Greek  idylls.  He  does  not  often  illus- 
trate, but  one  delicious  half-tone  by  him 
accompanied  the  publication  of  Lowell's 
"  Love  and  Thought."  Thought  is  a  lovely 
maiden,  with  bent  brow,  downcast,  hidden 


LOVE    SCENES    IN    LITERATURE.         223 

eyes,  and  tender,  reposeful  mouth.  Love 
is  one  of  the  most  piquant  of  Cupids ;  he 
is  neither  the  baby  boy  of  Correggio  and 
Titian,  nor  the  lanky  youth  of  Burne- 
Jones.  Between  the  two  ages,  with  his 
beautiful  face  roguishly  sweet,  his  tumbled 
curly  hair,  his  purely  drawn,  lithe  little 
figure,  he  stands  looking  furtively  at 
Thought,  ready  to  fly  in  consternation 
if  her  reign  is  to  begin. 

"  What  hath  Love  with  Thought  to  do  ? 
Still  at  variance  are  the  two. 
Love  is  sudden,  Love  is  rash, 
Love  is  like  the  Levin  flash, 
Conies  as  swift,  as  swiftly  goes, 
And  his  mark  as  surely  knows." 


CHAPTER  IX. 

WIVES    AND    SWEETHEARTS. 

'VERY  lover  finds  himself  forced 
to  give  outward  expression  to 
the  tender  thoughts  within  his 
heart.  If  he  is  a  poet,  he  writes  no  rhyme 
but  has  his  lady's  image  somewhere  in  it. 
If  he  is  a  composer,  each  theme  he  sings 
is  wreathed  with  sweet  melodic  fancies  of 
his  heart's  delight.  When  the  lover  is 
painter  or  sculptor,  it  is  her  face  alone  he 
cares  to  paint  or  model.  Not  only  does 
he  make  portraits  of  her,  every  ideal  face 
or  figure  he  designs  has  something  about 
it  suggestive  of  her  he  loves. 

It  is,  of  course,  manifestly  impossible  for 
224 


WIVES    AND    SWEETHEARTS.  225 

outsiders  to  recognize  more  than  a  very 
few  of  these  love-likenesses.  While  a 
scandal  is  whispered  broadcast,  it  is  only 
occasionally,  even  in  these  days  of  tele- 
graphic gossip,  that  the  public  is  let  into 
an  artist's  happy  love  history.  So  that  to 
decide  authoritatively  what  pictures  ideal- 
ize or  realize  the  loves  of  modern  artists 
is,  except  in  a  few  instances,  out  of  the 
question. 

Boucher's  wife  is  said  to  have  been  the 
model  for  many  of  his  Venuses.  In  all 
his  works  he  seems  to  have  had  but  one 
type  of  feminine  beauty,  so  it  is  fair  to 
suppose  that  his  wife  remained  his  ideal. 
One  of  these  semi-portraits  is  probably 
to  be  found  in  the  Venus  in  the  Berlin 
Museum. 

In  the  fresco  of  the  Hemicycle  of  the 
Fine  Arts  Room  in  the  Ecole  des  Beaux 
Arts,  Delaroche,  one  of  the  princes  of 
French  painters,  has  immortalized  his 


226  LOVE    IN    ART. 

wife  in  the  figure  of  Mediaeval  Art.  The 
loveliness  of  her  face  is  enhanced  by  beau- 
tiful blonde  hair,  and  the  painter-husband 
seems  to  have  put  all  his  heart  into  this 
delineation  of  the  woman  he  so  deeply 
loved. 

For  many  years  Romney  was  passion- 
ately devoted  to  Lady  Hamilton,  and  he 
painted  her  in  every  conceivable  costume 
and  pose.  She  was  a  very  handsome 
woman,  and  Romney's  pictures  of  her 
show  his  art  at  its  happiest.  He  painted 
her  as  Diana;  as  Cassandra;  as  St.  Ce- 
cilia ;  as  the  Tragic  and  the  Comic  Muse ; 
as  Circe  and  as  a  nun;  as  a  Welsh  girl 
and  as  Magdalen ;  in  a  servant's  cap  and 
with  a  veil  over  her  head.  She  is  the 
Bacchante  now  in  the  National  Gallery, 
and  also  the  Parson's  Daughter.  She,  too, 
is  Ariadne  in  a  Cave  by  the  Sea,  owned 
by  Baron  Rothschild ;  and  in  the  National 
Portrait  Gallery  is  a  picture  of  herself  in 


ROMNEV.  —  LADY  HAMILTON. 


WIVES    AND    SWEETHEARTS.  229 

her  own  fashionable  apparel.  Whatever 
the  pose  or  imagined  character,  she  is 
always  Lady  Hamilton,  with  the  pure 
pink  and  white  coloring  and  graceful  lines 
Romney  loved. 

Greuze,  one  of  the  first  French  painters 
to  moralize,  had  an  unhappy  married  life, 
and  though  his  wife  was  his  model  for 
many  pictures  of  women,  they  can  scarcely 
be  called  love-portraits.  Once,  however, 
Greuze  loved  deeply  and  was  beloved  in 
return.  As  the  maiden  was  the  daughter 
of  an  Italian  nobleman  who  never  would 
have  consented  to  her  marriage  with  the 
humble  artist,  Greuze  heroically  refused 
a  clandestine  wedding.  His  Young  Girl's 
Prayer  to  Cupid  is  a  memento  of  this 
episode  in  his  life,  and  is  one  of  his  more 
charming  works. 

When  Regnault  was  killed  in  the  siege 
of  Paris,  he  was  but  just  engaged  to 
Breton's  daughter,  whom  he  loved  devot- 


230  LOVE    IN    ART. 

edly.  As  a  rule  Regnault's  portraits, 
though  of  fine  color  and  form,  fail  in 
expressing  the  highest  emotions.  His 
portrait  of  Mile.  Breton,  however,  shows 
him  the  lover  as  well  as  the  painter,  and 
is  a  picture  of  great  power,  wonderfully 
drawn  and  posed,  and  of  exquisite  flesh 
tones. 

All  the  world  knows  the  love  story 
of  Sir  John  Millais:  how,  when  a  very 
young  artist,  with  his  laurels  yet  to  win, 
Ruskin  asked  him  to  paint  his  beautiful 
girl-wife ;  how  the  two  found  their  heart's 
mate  in  each  other,  and  how  Ruskin, 
with  a  nobility  only  half  appreciated, 
made  it  possible  for  the  two  to  become 
wedded. 

The  Huguenot  Lovers  is  generally  sup- 
posed to  be  the  picture  Millais  painted 
during  the  weeks  the  two  were  learning 
to  know  each  other,  and  it  is  perhaps  his 
most  perfect  as  it  is  his  most  popular 


MILLAIS.  —  THE  HUGUENOT  LOVERS. 


WIVES    AND    SWEETHEARTS.  233 

canvas.  The  tender  affection,  the  heart- 
breaking parting,  are  wonderfully  por- 
trayed. The  two  figures  are  charmingly 
drawn  and  posed,  the  contrast  between 
her  fairness  and  his  darker  tones  is  well 
conceived,  and  the  whole  canvas  breathes 
the  deep  love  which  inspired  it. 

Millet  almost  never  painted  wholly 
from  nature.  His  scenes  of  peasant  life, 
he  had,  as  it  were,  absorbed  into  his  heart 
and  mind,  and  he  painted  what  he  found 
there  rather  than  what  his  eyes  literally 
saw.  It  is  true,  however,  that  his  wife 
posed  for  many  of  his  women  figures,  and, 
though  there  is  no  exact  likeness,  his 
thought  of  her  and  the  tender  affection 
he  bore  her  are  more  than  hinted  at  in 
many  of  his  home  scenes. 

In  the  Woman  Sewing  by  Lamplight 
we  may  be  almost  sure  it  is  Madame  Mil- 
let who  sits  under  a  crude  hanging-lamp, 
busily  plying  her  needle.  The  weak 


234  LOVE    IN    ART. 

beams  throw  only  her  profile  into  light, 
while  the  dark  shadows  hang  close  about 
her.  She  is  roughly  dressed,  with  a  big 
drooping  cap,  but  her  face  is  lovely,  and 
every  line  tells  of  the  tenderness  in 
the  painter's  heart  for  all  toiling,  patient 
woman  and  wifehood. 

In  Couture's  large  canvas,  The  Deca- 
dence of  the  Romans,  the  woman  in  it, 
who  is  presumably  Venus,  was  a  portrait 
of  her  who  afterwards  became  his  wife. 
This  is  his  greatest  triumph.  Self-con- 
ceit kept  him  from  progressing,  and  he 
never  again  equalled  this  effort  of  his 
youth.  The  scene  represents  an  orgy, 
and  the  magnificent  woman  who  lies  on 
a  long  couch  looks  out  with  large  eyes 
wearily  at  the  riotous  gaiety.  Her  beauty 
is  of  a  grand  type,  and  Couture  painted 
it  grandly,  as  became  the  lover  who  was 
yet  unmarried.  The  work  hangs  in  the 
Louvre. 


WIVES    AND    SWEETHEARTS.  235 

In  the  Sad  Shore,  by  Hamon,  which 
has  been  previously  noticed,  this  artist 
put,  among  other  groups  of  lovers,  the 
wife  whom  he  had  loved  and  lost.  She  is 
being  consoled  by  Cupid  himself  in  the 
absence  of  her  husband,  a  task  which 
Cupid,  with  his  eye  for  beauty  of  face  and 
form,  must  have  well  appreciated. 

Beata  Beatrix,  in  the  London  National 
Gallery,  one  of  the  loveliest  faces  Rossetti 
ever  painted,  is  a  poetic  version  of  his 
wife.  Over  and  over  again,  until  her  un- 
timely death,  he  pictured  the  face  which 
was  so  dear  to  him,  but  never  more  exqui- 
sitely than  here.  She  sits  with  loosely 
folded  hands  looking  up  to  the  heaven  her 
spirit  has  already  reached.  Unseen  is  the 
dove  of  rose-colored  plumage  who  brings 
her  one  white  poppy,  —  a  sign  of  death 
and  chastity.  Her  face  is  dreamful,  ten- 
der, wistful.  The  true  spirit  of  the  woman 
Rossetti  loved  so  long  was  caught  and 


236  LOVE    IN    ART. 

imprisoned  here,  that  the  world  might  see 
her  even  as  he  did. 

In  the  Luxembourg  is  one  of  the  great 
portraits  by  Carol  us- Duran.  This  is 
named  simply  The  Lady  with  the  Glove ; 
but  the  dignified,  charming  woman  is 
really  the  painter's  wife.  Light  and  color, 
which  he  commands  to  an  extraordinary 
degree,  are  here  employed  with  even  more 
than  his  usual  power,  and  the  movement 
of  line  and  transparency  of  tone  are  both 
felicitous.  If  Carolus-Duran  sometimes 
seems  to  be  more  en  rapport  with  the 
robes  and  accessories  of  his  sitters  than 
with  their  mental  characteristics,  in  this 
portrait  of  his  wife  he  shows  himself 
master  as  well  of  the  higher  attributes 
of  his  art. 

La  Vierge  Consolatrice,  in  the  Luxem- 
bourg, is  one  of  the  most  satisfactorily 
beautiful  of  the  many  canvases  signed  by 
Bouguereau.  The  mother,  who  has  thrown 


ROSSETTI.  —  BEATA  BEATRIX 


WIVES    AND    SWEETHEARTS.  239 

herself  distractedly  across  the  knees  of 
the  Virgin  Mary,  mourning  the  death  of 
her  beloved  baby,  is  a  likeness  of  his  wife. 
In  the  unendurable,  helpless  grief  of  the 
picture,  he  represented  his  own  feel- 
ings at  the  death  of  her  and  their  child. 
He  sold  the  picture  to  the  government 
for  twelve  hundred  francs,  having  pre- 
viously refused  from  private  parties  twice 
that  sum. 

C.  de  Vos  is  one  of  that  rare  group  of 
painters  in  Holland  who  use  their  tech- 
nical dexterity  never  for  display,  but  only 
for  the  furthering  of  some  higher  spiritual 
beauty.  In  the  Museum  of  Brussels  he 
has  a  wonderful  portrait  group.  It  shows 
himself,  his  wife,  and  their  children,  and 
the  very  spirit  of  the  home-life  is  caught 
and  vividly  expressed.  The  wife  has  a 
very  Dutch  face,  and  to  our  notion  is 
not  beautiful,  but  her  expression  is  full 
of  tenderness. 


240  LOVE    IN    ART. 

A  famous  picture  by  Mariano  Fortuny 
is  the  Spanish  Marriage,  sold  to  Mme. 
Cassin.  The  wedding  party  have  gath- 
ered to  sign  the  marriage  contract  in  a 
large  sacristy,  whose  walls  are  hung  with 
Cordovan  leather.  Glowing  in  color,  fine 
in  composition,  with  elaborate  accessories, 
it  shows  Fortuny  at  his  best,  and  with 
good  reason.  He  had  been  but  just 
married  to  Madrazo's  daughter,  and  this 
canvas  was  painted  when  his  own  nuptials 
were  fresh  in  his  mind.  The  bride  is  a 
portrait  of  his  wife. 

Scarcely  an  American  artist,  it  may  be 
said,  but  has  portrayed  his  wife  or  sweet- 
heart over  and  over,  now  in  portraits, 
now  as  the  subject  of  all  sorts  of  picture- 
stories.  To  describe  one-half  would  be 
now  impossible,  but  a  few  of  the  more 
noted  ones  may  be  briefly  mentioned. 

Abbott  Thayer  has  been  called  our 
greatest  artist,  and  John  Sargent,  our 


WIVES    AND    SWEETHEARTS.  241 

greatest  painter.  The  characterization 
is  a  somewhat  just  one,  yet  that  does 
not  preclude  Mr.  Thayer  from  being 
also  a  very  beautiful  colorist.  Can  any 
color  scheme  be  more  charmingly  appro- 
priate than  that  in  the  picture  of  the  wife 
of  his  youth  with  their  child  in  her  lap  ? 
As  a  portrait  it  was  declared  to  be  won- 
derfully lifelike ;  and  the  deep-toned  eyes, 
with  the  hint  of  suffering  in  them,  the 
pale,  pure  face,  and  the  pensive  mouth 
make  the  face  rarely  exquisite. 

Mr.  William  M.  Chase  has  painted  his 
piquantly  pretty  wife  many  times.  A  de- 
lightfully natural  scene  shows  a  corner  of 
an  artistic  room,  with  his  wife  and  little 
girl  sitting  there.  It  is  a  very  easy,  sym- 
pathetic bit  of  genre,  and  shows  Mr.  Chase 
at  his  best. 

How  many  of  our  modern  "  master- 
pieces "  will  be  masterpieces  a  hundred 
years  from  now?  Unless  time  wholly 


242  LOVE    IN    ART. 

ruins  the  exquisite  tones,  one  portrait 
in  the  Metropolitan  Museum  in  New 
York  must,  it  would  seem,  remain  what 
it  is  to-day,  —  a  masterpiece  in  line,  curve, 
modelling,  pose,  color,  tone,  and  delinea- 
tion. This  is  the  portrait  of  his  wife,  by 
the  late  Dennis  Miller  Bunker.  Dying 
when  he  had  but  begun  his  life,  this 
youthful  painter  had  already  proved  him- 
self one  of  the  foremost  of  American 
artists,  and  there  were  many  who  prophe- 
sied for  him  an  enviable  height  on  the 
world's  ladder  of  fame.  In  some  ways 
this  golden-haired  woman,  with  the  glori- 
ous, unfathomable  eyes,  with  the  royally- 
poised  head,  the  proudly  perfect  mouth, 
the  exquisite  paleness  of  skin  which  hints 
of  a  flush  beneath,  is  his  most  remarkable 
achievement.  Any  height  seems  possible 
to  the  man  whose  brain  could  guide  his 
hand  to  such  perfection. 

Whether  Wilton  Lockwood  is  a  painter 


WIVES    AND    SWEETHEARTS.  243 

with  a  manner,  or  whether  he  is  singularly 
free  from  even  a  vestige  of  affectation,  is 
perhaps  a  question.  His  heavy,  coarse 
canvas,  and  the  thinness  with  which  he 
spreads  his  pigments  upon  it,  suggest  at 
least  a  technical  style  that  seems  pur- 
posely adopted  rather  than  naturally 
fallen  into.  A  certain  misty,  cloud-like 
effect,  too,  is  so  universal  in  all  he  does, 
that  again  one  feels  inclined  to  suspect  a 
receipt.  Yet,  as  a  whole,  his  works  are 
remarkably  direct,  simple,  and  naturally 
individualistic.  Interesting  they  always 
are,  often  charming,  sometimes  really 
poetic.  He  has  painted  his  wife  in  all 
sorts  of  gowns  and  poses.  One  of  the 
best  of  his  works  reveals  Mrs.  Lockwood 
standing  in  a  dark  gown,  her  baby  in  her 
arms.  Her  brown  eyes,  rather  round  face, 
with  the  soft,  dark  hair  loosely  away 
from  her  forehead,  show  the  skill  of  her 
husband  at  its  height. 


244  LOVE    IN   ART. 

Mr.  George  de  Forest  Brush's  Mother 
and  Child,  in  the  Boston  Art  Museum,  is 
a  picture  of  his  own  wife  and  child.  It 
is  difficult  to  maintain  a  critical  attitude 
before  such  work  as  this.  Drawing,  show- 
ing the  absolute  knowledge  and  surety  of 
hand  and  brain,  entrancing  chiaroscuro, 
poetic  depth  of  feeling,  are  all  here  united. 
The  color  alone  is  not  quite  so  wonder- 
ful in  its  reality.  It  is  hard  to  pick  out 
any  particular  beauties,  but  has  any  one 
ever  portrayed  tenderer,  truer,  more 
womanly,  motherly  hands  than  the  two 
clasped  about  the  beautiful  baby  boy? 

William  M.  Story,  Duveneck,  and  Her- 
bert Adams  have  all  immortalized  the 
women  they  loved  in  undying  marble. 
Mr.  Story's  monument  to  the  memory  of 
his  wife  is  full  of  a  classic  beauty,  simple 
and  dignified  in  its  expression  of  bereave- 
ment. An  angel  kneels  behind  the  curved 
plinth,  her  face  upon  one  arm  resting  on 


WIVES    AND    SWEETHEARTS.  247 

its  top.  The  other  has  dropped  over,  and 
hangs  with  loosely  open  hand,  from  which 
the  laurel  branch  has  fallen.  Beautiful 
large  wings  drooping  from  each  shoulder 
enhance  the  grace  of  line  and  curve. 

In  the  Boston  Art  Museum  is  the  tomb 
of  Duveneck's  wife.  Lying  out  at  full 
length,  covered  with  simple,  slightly 
broken  drapery,  showing  the  curves  of  the 
fair  figure  beneath,  her  hands  patiently 
folded  on  her  breast,  is  the  sculptured 
image  of  the  artist's  worshipped  wife.  Fair 
as  is  the  form,  the  purity  of  the  face  is 
even  lovelier  with  the  peace  of  the  spirit 
of  Death  resting  upon  it.  Few  Ameri- 
can sculptors  have  done  nobler  work  than 
this. 

A  bust  by  Herbert  Adams  of  his 
wife  has  been  seen  at  several  exhibitions, 
and  must  be  well  remembered.  It  is  a 
piquantly  charming  head,  poised  with  a 
dainty  grace  upon  delicately  firm  shoulders. 


248  LOVE    IN    ART. 

Seen  full  in  the  face  it  apparently  repre- 
sents some  sober  Puritan  maid,  with  a 
sweetly  downcast  look,  as  appealing  as  it 
is  pensive.  The  profile,  on  the  contrary, 
shows  the  tip-tilted  nose,  the  irresistible 
curve  of  the  upper  lip,  the  almost  saucy 
bend  of  the  whole  head.  Puritan  maid  no 
longer,  she  is  a  gay  little  French  girl  with 
all  the  indefinable,  attractive  charm  of  that 
mobile  race. 

Messrs.  Will  Taylor,  Irving  Wiles, 
Albert  Steiner,  C.  D.  Gibson,  and  many 
other  of  our  best-known  illustrators  who 
are  also  painters,  fill  their  compositions 
with  likenesses  of  their  wives.  It  is  safe 
to  say  that  the  characteristic  woman  of 
each  of  these  artists  mentioned  represents, 
in  every  case,  the  lineaments  of  her  who 
is  at  the  head  of  his  household. 

They  do  not  tell  the  world  in  so  many 
words,  these  modern  artists,  of  the  depth 
of  their  love,  but  to  those  who  can  read 


WIVES    AND    SWEETHEARTS.  249 

the   story   of  pen,  brush,  and   chisel,  no 
words  are  needed. 

"  Oh,  Love !  young  Love !  bound  in  thy  rosy  band, 
Let  Sage  or  Cynic  prattle  as  he  will, 
These  hours  and  only  these  redeem  life's  years  of 
UL" 


THE    ?ND 


BIBLIOGRAPHY. 


MALCOLM  BELL:  Edward  Burne-Jones.  Scribner's 
Cyclopaedia  of  Painters  and  Paintings. 

CLAUDE  PHILLIPS  :  Earlier  Works  of  Titian.  Antoine 
Watteau. 

WALTER  ARMSTRONG.  ^Ife  oi  Velasquez.  Art  of 
Velasquez.  T.  Gainsborough. 

JULIA  CARTWRIGHT  :  Early  Work  of  Raphael.  J.  Bas- 
tien. 

WILLIAM  SHARP:  Fair  Women — in  "  Portfolio." 

F.  G.  STEVENS  :  Dante  Gabriel  Rossetti. 

P.  G.  HAMERTON  :  Rembrandt's  Etchings.  Man  in 
Art. 

BERNHARD  BERENSON  :  Lorenzo  Lotto.  Central  Ital- 
ian Poets  of  the  Renaissance.  Florentine  Painters 
of  the  Renaissance.  Venetian  Painters  of  the 
Renaissance. 

J.  C.  VAN  DYKE  :  Modern  French  Masters. 

MICHEL  :  Life  of  Rembrandt. 

GRIMM  :  Raphael.     Michael  Angelo. 

E.  H.  AND  E.  W.  BLASHFIELD  AND  A.  A.  HOPKINS  : 
Vasari's  Lives. 

251 


252  BIBLIOGRAPHY. 

MRS.  JAMESON  :  Early  Italian  Painters. 

CURTIS  :  Velasquez  and  Murillo. 

FURTWANGLER  :  Masterpieces  of  Greek  Sculpture. 

J.  D.  PASSAVANT  :  Raphael  of  Urbino. 

J.  P.  RICHTER  :  Leonardo  da  Vinci. 

DR.  JULIAN  MEYER  :  Antonio  Allegri  da  Correggio. 

CROWE  AND  CAVALCASELLE  :  Early  Flemish  Painters. 

History  of  Painting  in  North  Italy.     Titian:  His 

Life  and  Times. 

J.  A.  SYMONDS  :  Renaissance  in  Italy.    Fine  Arts. 
COUNTESS  ALBUZZI  AND  COUNT  CICOGNARA:   Cano- 

va's  Works. 
W.  M.  ROSSETTI  :  Memoirs  and  Letters  of  D.  G.  Ros- 

setti. 

TARBELL  :  History  of  Greek  Art 
P.  N.  JAMES  :  Painters  and  Their  Works. 
WILLIAM  STIRLING  :  Velasquez  and  His  Works. 
PERCY  RENDELL  HEAD  :  Van  Dyck. 
RICHARD  MUTHER  :  History  of  Modern  Painting. 
KUGLER  :  Handbook  of  Painting. 
CHARLES  WALDSTEIN  :  Art  of  Phidias. 
WALTER  G.  PERRY  :  Greek  and  Roman  Sculpture. 
A.  S.  MURRAY  :  History  of  Greek  Sculpture. 
STRANAHAN  :  History  of  Painting  in  France. 


INDEX. 


Abbey:  Shakespeare  Illustrations,  219;  Illustrations  for 
Old  English  Songs  and  Ballads,  219;  Hamlet  and  Ophe- 
lia, 220. 

Adams  :  Bust  of  Mrs.  Adams,  247. 

Albani :  Venus  with  Cupids,  Corsini  Gallery,  Rome,  73 ; 
Cupids  Dancing,  73 ;  Apollo  and  Daphne,  Louvre,  88. 

Alma-Tadema:  The  Old  Story,  178;  The  First  Whisper  of 
Love,  178;  Pleading,  178;  Who  Is  It,  178;  Shy,  178; 
A  Love  Missile,  178;  The  Question,  178. 

Andriotti:  Wooing,  1 88. 

Angelico,  Fra :  Last  Judgment,  Academy  at  Florence,  32. 

Angelo,  Michael :  Pontormo's  colored  copy  of  his  Venus, 
Uffia,  56;  Leda  and  the  Swan,  Dresden,  79;  Cupid, 
South  Kensington  Museum,  56;  Cupid,  Liceo  of 
Mantua,  56;  Vittoria  Colonna,  Uffizi,  113. 

Aubert :  Cooling  the  Wings  of  Love,  182;  Approaching 
Love,  182 ;  Love  on  a  Vacation,  182. 

Baudry:  L'Enlevement  de  Psyche,  188;  Leda,  188 ;  Or- 
pheus and  Eurydice,  188;  Diana  Driving  Away  Love, 
1 88. 

Bellini :  Venus  of  the  Belvedere,  Vienna,  49 ;  Venus  as 
Empress  of  the  World,  Museum  of  Fine  Arts,  Venice, 
49- 

253 


254  '  INDEX. 

Belucci :  Cupid  and  Psyche,  Munich,  89. 

Benjamin  Constant:  A  Riff  Pirate's  Wife,  188;  The  Women 

of  the  Harem,  188. 
Beyschlag :  Demanding  Toll,  188. 

Bodenhausen,  Von:  Hero  and  Leander,  188,  217;  Nydia,  218. 
Botticelli:  Birth  of  Venus,  Uffizi,  53;   Venus,  London,  53; 

Venus,  London,  54 ;  Venus,  Louvre,  54. 
Boucher:  Rinaldo  and  Armida,  The  Louvre,  197;   Birth  of 

Venus,   Berlin   Museum,    139,   225;  Venus   Demanding 

Arms  of    Vulcan,   Louvre,   139;    Venus    and   Adonis, 

Barker  Collection,  139 ;  Birth  of  Venus,  Venus  at  Her 

Toilet,  Cupids  and  Flowers,  Stockholm,  139 ;  Shepherd 

Sleeping,  Bordeaux,  161 ;  Leda,  Douglas  Collection,  161 ; 

Jupiter  and  Calisto,  Louvre,  161. 
Bouguereau:  Birth  of  Venus,  Luxembourg,  150;  Love  and 

Youth,  183 ;  La  Vierge  Consolatrice,  Luxembourg,  236. 
Bronzino  :  Venus  and  Cupid,  Uffizi,  72  ;  Venus,  Cupid,  Folly, 

and  Time,  National   Gallery,  72;  Venus,   Cupid,  and 

Satyr,  Rome,  72. 

Brush  :  Wife  and  Child,  Boston  Art  Museum,  244. 
Bunker :    Portrait    of    Wife,    Metropolitan    Museum,  New 

York,  242. 
Bume- Jones,  Sir  Edward  :  Cupid  Sharpening  an  Arrow,  1 53 ; 

Venus's  Looking-glass,  153;  Pyramus  and  Thisbe,  169; 

Chant  d' Amour,  169;  Briar  Rose,  169;  Romance  of  the 

Rose,  169 ;  Love  Among  the  Ruins,  170. 
Burne- Jones,  Philip:  The  Vampire,  179. 
Cabanel :  Birth  of  Venus,  Luxembourg,  147  ;  The  Florentine 

Poet,  173;  Paolo  and  Francesca,  Luxembourg,  210. 
Canova:  Venus   Victorious,   Louvre,    136;   Venus,   Louvre, 

136;  Cupid  and  Psyche,  Louvre,  165. 
Caracci:    Frescoes  in    Famesina,  88;    Venus  and  Cupid, 

Vienna,  72. 

Carolus-Duran :  Lady  with  the  Glove,  Luxembourg,  236. 
Carpaccio  :  Meeting  of  Prince  of  Britain  with  Ursula,  Acad- 


INDEX.  255 

emy  of  Venice,  36 :  Joachim  and  Anna,  Academy  of 
Venice,  36. 

Castagnola :  Filippo  Lippi  Declaring  Love  to  Lucrezia  Buti, 
217. 

Chaplin:  Love's  Messenger,  183. 

Chase  :  Wife  and  Child,  241. 

Correggio  :  Education  of  Cupid,  National  Gallery,  59  ;  Jupi- 
ter and  lo,  Vienna,  83;  Jupiter  and  Antiope,  Louvre, 
82  ;  Danae,  Borghese,  83  ;  Leda,  Dresden,  84. 

Cosimo:  Andromeda,  Florence,  76;  Theseus  and  Ariadne, 
Milan,  77. 

Cot :  Spring,  183. 

Couture  :  Decadence  of  the  Romans,  234. 

Cox,  Kenyon:  Illustrations  for  the  Blessed  Damozel,  221. 

Cox,  Mrs. :  The  Lovers,  221. 

Coypel :  A  Nymph  and  Cupid,  Louvre,  140 ;  Venus,  Bacchus, 
and  Cupid,  Louvre,  140. 

Dagnan-Bouveret :  The  Blessing,  184. 

Dahl :  Female  Attraction,  188. 

David  :  Paris  and  Helen,  Louvre,  161. 

Delacroix :  Jewish  Wedding,  Louvre,  161 ;  Faust  and  Mar- 
guerite, 197. 

Delaroche  :  Fresco,  Hemicycle  of  Fine  Arts  Room,  in  ficole 
des  Beaux  Arts,  226. 

Diaz:  The  Lovers,  181 ;  Don't  Come  In,  181. 

Domenichino :  Venus,  Cupid,  and  Satyrs,  Pitti,  72 ;  Perseus 
and  Andromeda,  Farnesina,  88 ;  Pursuit  of  Love,  Bas- 
sano,  89. 

Diirer :  Anna  and  Joachim,  43. 

Duveneck  :  Tomb  in  Memory  of  His  Wife,  Museum  of  Fine 
Arts,  Boston,  247. 

Dyck,  Van  :  Diana  and  Endymion,  Madrid,  94 ;  Venus  and 
Vulcan,  Louvre,  71 ;  Cupid  and  Psyche,  Hampton  Court, 
94 ;  Danae,  Dresden,  94 ;  Venus  Looking  at  Herself  in 
a  Mirror,  72 ;  Venus  Taking  off  Armor  of  Mars,  72  ; 


256  INDEX. 

Margaret  Lemon,  Althorp,  122;  Venus  and  Adonis,  71  , 
Cupid  Asleep,  71  ;  Margaret  Lemon,  Hampton  Court, 
122;  Maria  Ruthven,  Munich,  123. 

Fortuny  :  Spanish  Marriage,  240. 

Franceschini :  Cupid  with  a  Bow,  Uffizi,  135  ;  Sleeping  Cupid, 
Pitti,  135. 

Francia:  Marriage  of  St.  Cecilia  and  Valerian,  Bologna,  35. 

Gerard:  Cupid  and  Psyche,  Louvre,  161. 

Giorgione  :  Meeting  of  Jacob  and  Rachel,  Louvre,  41 ;  Sleep- 
ing Venus,  Dresden,  56. 

Giotto  :  Meeting  of  St.  Joachim  and  St.  Anna,  Arena  Chapel, 

3°- 
Gozzoli,    Benozzo :    Marriage    Feast   of    Sts.   Joachim   and 

Anna,  Campo  Santo,  Pisa,  34. 
Greuze:   Danae,    Louvre,    161  ;     Betrothed    Country   Girl, 

Louvre,  161  ;  Young  Girl's  Prayer  to  Cupid,  229. 
Guercino:  Girl  and  Cupid,  Naples,  72;    VenuL  and  Cupid, 

Rome,  72 ;  Sleeping  Endymion,  Uffizi,  88. 
Hamon:  Washing  of  Cupids,  148;  The  Sad  Shore,  182,  235; 

Love  on  a  Visit,  182. 
Holbein  :  Woodcuts  of  Esther,  42. 
Hunt :  Marguerite,  191. 
Israal :  Alone  in  the  World,  180. 
Kauffman:  Venus  and  Adonis,  142;  Cupids   at   Play,    142; 

Paris  and  Helen,  161. 
Kaulbach,  Helena,  188. 
Kray  :  Venus  Binding  the  Wings  of  Love,  151 ;  Psyche,  188 ! 

The  Fisherman's  Love,  188. 
Laurens  :  Faust  and  Marguerite,  198. 
Lefebvre:  Toilet  of  the  Bride,  183;  Moorish  Bride,  183. 
Leigh  ton,  Sir  Frederick:  Venus  Disrobing  for  the  Bath,  152; 

Wedded,  Sydney,  166;  Nausicaa  Waiting  for  Odysseus, 

165 ;  Cymon  and  Iphigenia,  Fine  Arts  Society,  London, 

165;  Hercules   Wrestling  with  Death,    165;   Helen  of 

Troy,  166. 


INDEX.  257 

Liezen-Mayer :  Marguerite,  218. 

Lippi,    Fra   Filippo :   Madonna  with   Two  Priests    and   Six 

Angels,  Louvre,  99 ;    Frescoes  at  Prato,  99 ;  Madonnas 

in  Gradino  Communal,  Gallery  of  Prato,  99 ;  Wedding 

Feast  of  Joachim  and  Anna,  Oxford,  33. 
Lockwood  :  Wife  and  Child,  243. 
Lotto :  Danae,  77  ;  Bride  and  Bridegroom,  Madrid,  78. 
Low:  Love  Disarmed,  154;  Illustrations  for  Keats's  Lamia, 

and  for  Keats's  Odes  and  Sonnets,  221. 
Macmonnies  :  Study  for  Statuette  of   Dancing  Cupid  on  a 

Ball,  154. 

Mantegna  :  Muses  Dancing  to  Apollo's  Lyre,  Louvre,  49. 
McEwan :    Theseus,   Library   of   Congress,    192 ;    Hercules, 

Library   of  Congress,  192;  Paris,  Library  of   Congress, 

195- 

Mengs  :  Cupid  Sharpening  an  Arrow,  151. 

Metsys  :  Portrait  of  Wife,  Uffizi,  117. 

Millais,  Sir  John:  Effie  Deans,  209;  Yes  or  No,  169;  .No, 
169 ;  Yes,  169 ;  Bride  of  Lammermoor,  209  ,  The  Hugue- 
not Lovers,  230. 

Millet:  Sleeping  Cupid,  149;  Woman  Sewing  by  Lamplight, 

233- 

Mouvel,  De:  Landry  at  Bedside  of  Zaviere,  Illustration,  214. 

Mowbray:  Love  and  Thought,  222. 

Murillo  :  Rebecca  at  the  Well,  Madrid,  47. 

Netscher  :  Sacrifice  to  the  God  of  Love,  Louvre,  188;  Sacri- 
fice to  Venus,  Louvre,  188. 

Page,  Le :  Love  in  the  Village,  184. 

Pelagi,  Pelagic  :  Education  of  Love,  1 39. 

Perrault :  Cupid  Rebellious,  148 ;  Sleeping  Love,  148. 

Perugino :  Archangel  Raphael  and  Tobias,  National  Gallery, 
101. 

Pheidias:  Statue  of  Jupiter,  21. 

Picou  :  Love  on  Penitential  Stool,  148;  Love  at  Auction,  148; 
Harvest  of  Loves,  148. 


258  INDEX. 

Poussin  :  Apollo  in  Love  with  Daphne,  Louvre,  94  ;  Orpheus 
and  Eurydice,  Louvre,  94  ;  Ruth  and  Boaz,  Louvre,  43  ; 
Eliezer  and  Rebecca,  Louvre,  43  ;  Sleeping  Venus,  Dres- 
den, 74 ;  Pyramus  and  Thisbe,  94 ;  Venus  and  Adonis, 
Montpellier,  74;  Venus  Mourning  Adonis,  74;  Venus 
and  Mars,  Louvre,  74. 

Praxiteles  :  Venus  of  Cnidus,  22  ;  Cupid,  Vatican,  22. 

Prud'hon :  Venus  and  Adonis,  141 ;  Innocence,  Love,  and 
Repentance,  141 ;  Cupid  Chastized,  Dublin,  141 ;  Cupid 
and  Psyche,  161. 

Raphael:  Raphael's  Bible,  Vatican,  36;  Marie  Bibbieni, 
Pitti,  105;  The  Fornarini,  Barbarini  Gallery,  Rome,  106; 
Farnesina  Frescoes,  54,  79 ;  Drawings  of  Cupids,  Venice, 

55- 

Regnault :  Portrait  of  Mile.  Breton,  230. 

Rembrandt :  Bathsheba,  Louvre,  43 ;  Samson's  Wedding, 
44 ;  Venus  and  Love,  Louvre,  7  5 ;  The  Young  Fiancee, 
St.  Petersburg,  95 ;  Jewish  Bride,  Amsterdam,  95 ;  Saskia, 
Cassel,  125;  Saskia,  Dresden,  125;  Rembrandt  and  His 
Wife,  Dresden,  126. 

Reni,  Guido :  Rebecca  at  the  Well,  Pitti,  44 ;  Cupid,  Corsini, 
73 ;  Cupid,  Rome,  73 ;  Bacchus  and  Ariadne,  Rome,  88 ; 
Andromeda,  Rome,  88. 

Reynolds,  Sir  Joshua:  Hope  Nursing  Love,  Lansdowne 
House,  161 ;  Cymon  and  Iphigenia,  Buckingham  Palace, 
161 ;  Cupid  and  Psyche,  161 ;  Cupid,  Covent  Garden,  141  ; 
Venus,  Earl  of  Upper  Ossory,  141 ;  Venus  Chiding 
Cupid,  141  ;  Cupid  as  a  Link  Boy,  141 ;  Venus  with  a 
Piping  Boy,  141  ;  Venus  and  Cupid,  St.  Petersburg,  142. 

Ribera :  Favorite  of  the  Day,  162. 

Romney:  Lady  Hamilton,  National  Portrait  Gallery,  226; 
Ariadne  in  a  Cave,  Baron  Rothschild,  226 ;  Bacchante, 
National  Gallery,  226;  Diana,  226;  St.  Cecilia,  226; 
Tragic  and  Comic  Muses,  226 ;  Magdalen,  226 ;  Circe, 
226. 


INDEX.  259 

Rossetti :  Blessed  Damozel,  200 ;  The  Beloved,  203 ;  Tris- 
tram and  Iseult,  204;  Launcelot  and  Guinevere,  204; 
Prison  Scene  of  Faust,  205  ;  Paolo  and  Francesca,  205  ; 
Found,  205 ;  Beata  Beatrix,  London,  National  Gallery, 

235- 

Rubens  :  Kermesse,  Louvre,  90 ;  Feast  of  Venus,  Vienna, 
90  ;  Castor  and  Pollux,  Munich,  93 ;  Perseus  and  Androm- 
eda, Berlin,  93;  Venus  and  Adonis,  Uffizi,  71  ;  Cymon 
and  Iphigenia,  Vienna,  93 ;  Garden  of  Love,  Dresden, 
90 ;  Isabel  Brandt,  Berlin,  121;  Helen  Fourment  with 
Children,  Louvre,  119;  Birth  of  Venus,  London,  71; 
Mars,  and  Venus,  71. 

Sarto,  Andrea  del:  Lady  with  Petrarch,  Madrid,  109;  Ma- 
donna of  the  Harpies,  Louvre,  1 10 ;  Birth  of  Mary,  Flor- 
ence, in;  Three  Magi  from  the  East,  Florence,  1 1 1 ; 
Madonna  del  Sacco,  Florence,  in  ;  St.  John,  Pitti,  III ; 
Portrait  of  Painter  and  Wife,  Pitti,  in. 

Schaus :  Cupids  in  Ambush,  1 52. 

Scheffer,  Ary  :  Dante  and  Beatrice,  198 ;  Paolo  and  Fran- 
cesca da  Rimini,  198  ;  Walk  in  the  Garden,  198;  Margaret 
at  the  Fountain,  198. 

Simmons  :  Erato,  Library  of  Congress,  192. 

Story  :  Tomb  in  Memory  of  His  Wife,  244. 

Thayer  :  Mother  and  Child,  241. 

Thorwaldsen :  Venus  and  Cupid,  142;  Cupids  at  Play,  143; 
Sale  of  Loves,  162. 

Thuman  :  Spring-time  of  Love,  191. 

Tintoretto:  Venus,  Cupid,  and  Vulcan,  Pitti,  70;  Bacchus 
and  Ariadne,  Ducal  Palace,  Venice,  87 ;  Minerva  Driving 
Away  Mars,  Venice,  88. 

Tissot :  Meeting  of  Faust  and  Marguerite,  Luxembourg, 
213. 

Titian :  Meeting  of  Joachim  and  Anna,  Carmine,  Padua,  40 ; 
Sated  and  Artless  Love,  Borghese  Gallery,  60 ;  Venus, 
Darmstadt,  63;  Venus  with  a  Shell,  64;  Venu?  Uffiza, 


260  INDEX. 

64;  Venus  and  Cupid,  Florence,  66;  Venus,  Madrid, 
66;  Venus,  St.  Petersburg,  66;  Education  of  Cupid, 
Borghese,  69 ;  Bacchus  and  Ariadne,  England,  80 ; 
Danae,  Naples,  81 ;  Jupiter  and  Antiope,  81 ;  Three 
Ages,  82  ;  Warrior  Davolos  Parting  from  His  Wife,  82. 

Vedder:  Illustrations  for  Rubaiyat,  220. 

Velasquez :  Queen  of  Love,  Rokeby  Park,  England,  74 ; 
Portrait  of  Wife,  Madrid,  118. 

Veronese  :  Life  of  Esther,  St.  Sebastian,  41  ;  Venus,  Bor- 
ghese, 69;  Danae,  Royal  Gallery,  Turin,  84;  Family 
Group,  Venice,  1 16. 

Vinci,  Da:  Leda,  Paris,  80;  Monna  Lisa,  Louvre,  103. 

Vos,  De :  Family  Group,  Brussels,  239. 

Watteau:  Embarkation  for  Cytherea,  Louvre,  157;  Jupiter 
and  Antiope,  Louvre,  158;  Amour  Paisible,  Neues  Pa- 
lais, Potsdam,  158. 

Watts:  Love  Triumphant,  170;  Love  and  Life,  173;  Love 
and  Death,  174;  Orpheus  and  Eurydice,  177  ;  Paolo  and 
Francesca,  209. 

Works  not  placed  here  or  in  the  text,  may  be  generally 
understood  to  be  in  private  collections. 


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